<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Moonlit Masquerade: Mother of the Bride by Rohad</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217954">Moonlit Masquerade: Mother of the Bride</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohad/pseuds/Rohad'>Rohad</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Moonlit Masquerade [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Owl House (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Gay, Lumity, Parents</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:54:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27217954</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohad/pseuds/Rohad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mother's have always been a tough thing for Amity and Luz</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amity Blight/Luz Noceda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Moonlit Masquerade [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935769</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>91</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>763</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>We_Love_Lumity</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Amity sat quietly at the kitchen table, having her customary morning cup of tea with Lilith before the sun came up. She had become a master at slipping out of bed without disturbing Luz even a little, depending on how wrapped around her the human was, usually it was just an arm, but sometimes she was snaked around her like a python. </p><p>Even Hooty was still asleep, so it was quite still in the house. Usually, they chatted but it was quiet this morning, Amity lost in her thoughts and Lilith content to let her think in the quiet, lost in her own idle thoughts. </p><p>She had something to do today, something she had been putting off for almost two weeks now, but there was nothing left to do but rip the bandage off and be done with it. She sighed quietly into her cup of black tea, making Lilith look up at her.</p><p>“Something on your mind, Amity?” she finally asked</p><p>“I’m going to see my parents today, tell them that Luz and I are getting married,” she says. </p><p>“I see, I was under the impression that you didn’t speak to your parents anymore,” Lilith hummed.</p><p>“To my mother, no. She prefers to try and send passive-aggressive messages through my siblings though from time to time. I do keep in occasional contact with my father though, I don’t want to lump him in with her, he was never the warmest man, but I don’t think he was ever aware of the kinds of things that went on when I was a kid…” Amity frowned into her cup. </p><p>“If you’d like my opinion…,” Lilith trailed off and Amity nodded, she valued the opinion of her once mentor, now friend, and still occasional mentor. They didn’t always agree, but they had both changed a lot in six years. Amity was older and wiser, able to more easily see things from Lilith’s point of view, while Lilith had done much growing of her own, looking to find more gray areas in life other than the stark black and white she had believed in for so long “His complacency is no less at fault then your mother’s manipulative maliciousness.”  </p><p>Amity frowned, in ways, she knew Lilith was right, if her father hadn’t been so buried in work all the time and a little more attentive to his children, the three of them wouldn’t have suffered as they had under their mother’s thumb.</p><p>The waters were muddied though. For all his shortcomings, Amity loved her father and found difficulty condemning him to the same degree as her mother. He had been the one to teach her abomination magic and encouraged her curiosity for everything, kindled her voracious appetite for reading and learning as a child.  </p><p>Whereas her mother...</p><p>Everything about Odalia Blight brought out the worst in Amity, and she had been all too happy to help foster what Amity viewed now, as some of her less desirable personality traits. Her at times, baneful pride and self-destructive need to overachieve to please people, for example. </p><p>To be honest, she wasn’t sure where she would be right now if a certain human hadn’t barreled into her life with all the force of a B-5 gorenado. </p><p>She surely would never have had the courage to start standing up to her and have the screaming match just after her eighteenth birthday that led to her moving out. Over her hair no less, though as Luz had once said, if it was just about hair, she wouldn’t be so upset. It was never ‘just’ about her hair. It was so much more than that.</p><p>It was hard to believe that was three years ago </p><p> </p><p>
  <i>An eighteen-year-old Amity ran through the woods, panting and tears still dripping down her cheeks as she made a beeline for the owl house through the darkness of night and the thick trees, her breath coming out in clouds in the cool night air of early fall. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>She felt relief flood her when the eclectic demon house came into view.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>She didn’t even bother knocking, the owl house had become her second home and Eda told her to just come in when she came over. Hooty also saw her coming and, perhaps seeing her tears and frantic face, for once, simply opened for her.</i>
</p><p>
  <i> Luz was sitting on the couch doing homework when the door swung open and she flew into the living room, stopping only long enough to look around and for her eyes to land on Luz.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Amity?” Luz sat up in surprise, even more so when Amity quickly crossed the room and threw herself into her girlfriend’s open arms, burying her face in her neck.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What’s wrong?” Luz asked, the panic clear in her voice as Amity curled up in her lap and wept into her shoulder. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Luz held her till what was left of her tears had fallen and dried. At one point both Clawthorne sisters had stuck their heads out of the kitchen to check on them and Luz waved them away as she comfortingly rubbed her back.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>When she finally calmed, Luz asked her again what was wrong.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I had a fight with my mom. A big, screaming, fight,” she finally admitted, Luz’s eyes were the size of saucers at that.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“About what? Me again?” she grimaced and Amity shook her head from her place, nose buried in Luz’s neck.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“No, my hair,” she mumbled. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Oh, yeah, I noticed your roots are starting to get long again…,” Luz hummed, reaching up to run her fingers through said hair. Amity leaned into the comforting touch. “So, what happened?” she asked quietly.   </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I told her I wasn’t going to dye it anymore. I wasn’t a child and could make my own choices, and I wanted it to be natural again. She said I was being childish, that we should match… then said that it was your fault, that you influenced all my ‘bad decisions’,” Amity growled, scowling to herself. “So yeah… we spent fifteen minutes screaming at each other till she said that as long as I lived under her roof I’d do as she says, so I just ran out of the house…” </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I’m sorry, Amor,” Luz hummed. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“It’s not your fault,” she sighed, leaning back to look at her. “Titan… I just wish I had somewhere else to go, anywhere…”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Well, you’re eighteen, why don’t you move out?” Luz suggested.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Where would I go? If I moved out I’d have to drop out of school and work so I could afford a place to live, and this is our final year….” Amity frowned. “What coven would take a drop out? I think I’m just going to have to suck it up till spring…” </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“That’s almost a year from now, and it seems it's only getting worse at home, Amity,” Luz said worriedly. Things had been escalating in the last year between Amity and her mother, but especially in the last three weeks since her eighteenth birthday. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I know… but what choice do I have? I have to finish school,” she sighed, going limp against her warm girlfriend, who held her comfortingly.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Could live here.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>They both jolted, turning to look at Eda, leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, arms folded.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“W-what?” Amity blinked at her, and Luz was looking at her just as bewildered. Eda sighed, walking fully into the living room, Lilith poking her head out of the kitchen behind her.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“You can live here, Kid,” she said again.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I couldn’t… I don’t… I couldn’t be an imposition to you like that, Eda,” Amity finally said frowning.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Imposition? You’re the quietest person who ever comes over here, and look at all these free-loaders!” She gestured to Lilith, Luz, and King, laying curled up asleep in the chair across from them, snoring.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Hey!” Luz yelped and Lilith frowned.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What’s one more? Besides, it’s one more pair of hands to do chores and stuff.” She shrugged.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I… I don’t…” Her eyes were starting to burn again and Eda noticed, giving her an easy smile.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Look, you’re a good kid, Amity, you just ended up with crap parents, with skewed priorities, and you’ve always been good to Luz, hell, you been good to us.” she gestured to herself and Lilith, who nodded as she walked into the room to stand next to her sister. “It’s not like you’re not here all the time anyway,” she snorted with a grin.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What do you, think, babe?”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>She turned to look at Luz who was looking back at her with barely restrained glee.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I… Okay…,” she finally said, a small smile pulling at her lips.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Whoo!” Luz jumped up, Amity held aloft bridal style in her arms.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Luz!” Amity yelped at the sudden movement. Eda chuckled and Lilith smiled at the two.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“We’re living together!” Luz grinned and Amity blushed at the declaration as it really sank in. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>She was now living with her girlfriend…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Oh, right… we need to have a quick talk.” Eda crossed her arms and both girls' faces paled.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Ay dios mio, not another talk!” Luz looked at her fearfully.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“No! Not that talk… not exactly,” Eda grumbled, scratching the back of her head. “There are no other rooms, and obviously you’re not gonna live on the couch, so you and Luz are gonna be sharing a room, so it’s time for a change of rules,” she sighed. “You’re eighteen…” she pointed at Amity. “And you will be here soon,” she pointed at Luz. “And I’m not stupid enough to think I can stop it, so from now on, doors closed, always.” Eda declared as the two turned red as fresh apple blood and Lilith snickered behind her closed hand. “And I swear to the Titan, the first time I get woken up in the middle of the night, you’re living on the couch!” she pointed at Luz who guffawed at that.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Why me!?” she shouted. Eda leaned down so her face was only a few inches from Luz’s.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Because you’re the one I always hear,” she hissed with a frown, and Luz’s face was practically glowing at that. Lilith was choking on her , not so restrained, laughter.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Despite her own bright face, Amity snorted, biting her lip, Luz looked at her with a face that spoke loudly of the betrayal she felt. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“So, let’s go get your stuff!” Eda leaned back and clapped her hands.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Right now?” Amity blanched.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“No time like the present!” Eda held out her hand and her staff flew into the room. Lilith finally recovered and nodded, summing her own staff.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Yeah!” Luz was grinning at her again and Amity giggled.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Luz, you can set me down now.” she grinned at her.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Oh, right,” she chuckled.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>She pulled out her scroll and quickly called her sister and told her and Edric to throw all her clothes in a box.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What, why?” Emira’s confused voice said in her ear.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Because I’m moving,” she said simply as they left the owl house on the two older witch’s staves. There was a long pause on the other end of the scroll.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>‘WHAT!?” Both twins were suddenly screaming in her ear.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>When they showed up, she and Luz hurried inside, luckily avoiding her mother and father. The twins were standing in her room with her clothes all packed. They quickly explained the situation as they collected all of Amity’s personal belongings, she knew how big Luz’s room was so she had to make some sacrifices in her books and some other things, but Amity was now caught up in a giddy euphoria of leaving this place that had, for years, felt like a prison. She grabbed only what was most important to her. Her special box of keepsakes, her clothes, her diary, and a couple of little things. In hindsight, it was a little sad how unattached she was to most of the things in the room and how all the important things in her life fit into two decent sized boxes. They were the few things she had chosen for herself.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>She could examine that later, for now, she just wanted out. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>The twins offered to help carry them, but despite the fact they were both twenty, they still lived here, and Amity didn’t want to make things harder for her siblings if they ran into their parents. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I can’t believe you’re really leaving,” Emira sniffled a little as they followed Amity and Luz down the stairs.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Honestly, this is pretty hardcore and I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of you, Mittens,” Edric said and Emira nodded. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“We’re gonna miss you,” her sister added.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Amity rolled her eyes even as she smiled.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I’m moving into the owl house, I’m not leaving the demon realm.” </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“But still!” Edric threw up his hands. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“You guys are always welcome at the house,” Luz supplied helpfully as they walked toward the front door.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What is going on here?” A voice stopped them all cold at the door.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Coming out of his study was Alador and Odalia Blight.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Oh, uh, good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Blight…,” Luz said cautiously. Alador nodded at Luz, but his gold gaze quickly shifted to his youngest daughter.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Finally come home I see, Amity.” Odalia frowned at her youngest, completely ignoring Luz, which only made Amity angrier and she frowned, glaring at her mother.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What is this?” Alador questioned, holding a hand at the two of them and the boxes.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Mother informed me earlier tonight that so long as I live here I can’t make my own choices, despite being an adult, so… I’m not going to live here anymore.” Amity declared, standing up straight, even as she held her box of things in front of her like a makeshift barrier between herself and her parents. Luz shifted nervously from foot to foot while the twins glanced cautiously at each other.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Both older Blights' faces showed their shock at the declaration.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What?” Odalia’s face is the picture of shocked outrage while Alador’s is sheer disbelief. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Eda was kind enough to allow me to live at the owl house while I finish school,” Amity said.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Amity…,” Alador started, and for the first time since Amity can remember, looking completely shocked.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Do you see what allowing her to associate with this human has done, Alador?!” Odalia turned to her husband, scowling, as he turned his shocked gaze to her. Anger flared up in Amity, scorching hot.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“This isn’t about Luz! This is about you!” Amity practically screamed at her mother, making everyone jump and stare at her with wide eyes. “This is about you, controlling and manipulating me my entire life, telling me how to behave and dress. Who I could be friends with and what color my damn hair should be!” She unloaded on the older witch, voice cracking. “I’m tired of pretending I’m perfect, I’m not, I’m never going to be and you can’t make me by trying to change me! I’m tired of it and I don’t have to take it anymore… so I’m leaving, and you won’t have to worry about it or me embarrassing you or just me in general anymore!” Amity is breathing heavily as she finishes her tirade, fueled by years of neglect and overbearing controllingness. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Everyone is looking at her with wide eyes. Luz’s chest aches for her girlfriend and the twins are standing there with their jaw hanging open.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“What? Your hair?… Amity…,” Alador doesn’t understand what’s going on and tries to speak, but his wife is quicker.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“You ungrateful girl, after everything we’ve done for you, and you would throw it all away, for that?” She holds her hand out at Luz and Amity is seeing red, not just because of the insult to her girlfriend, but that she’s standing here, screaming at her and her mother still doesn’t hear anything she says to her.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I told you, this isn’t about Luz! But yes, yes I would, for her and for the chance to finally just be me, and not just your dress up figurine!” she snarls, but then clutches the box tightly, sighing heavily. “I’m wasting my breath…” She turned on heel and started toward the door.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Amity!” Alador stepped forward, calling his daughter, but before he could say anything else Odalia was calling at her back.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“If you step out that door, don’t ever think of coming back!” </i>
</p><p>
  <i>The twins gasp, looking at their mother, not shocked, but horrified at the declaration. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Odalia!” Alador whips around to face his wife, no longer is his tone shocked, but now a deep rumbling anger fills his voice. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Amity stops mid-step, staring out the front door at Eda and Lilith who are standing on the porch, watching, both their faces set in deep frowns, no doubt they heard everything.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Amity closes her eyes as she’s struck by how final this all is, but what shocks her is how much it hurts, that this was how it has to be between her and her mother, because so long as Amity allowed it, Odalia would never release her talons on her, let her live her own life. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>So this was how it had to be.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>She turns to look over her shoulder and Odalia is looking down her nose at her in that imperious way that has been the centerfold of Amity’s nightmares all her life. Her hard, olive gaze is expectant, expecting Amity to turn around and grovel for forgiveness, but not this time; never again.</i>
</p><p>
  <i> Her jaw clenched, and her grip on the box tightens and she turns to her father, who for the first time in her life that she can remember, looks lost.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Bye, Dad,” she says quietly and turns to stride out the door, never once looking back. Eda and Lilith step out of her way as she walks across the yard to the gate. Luz followed her silently.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The ride back to the owl house is quiet and it’s only then, flying through the dark, quiet sky that Amity lets the tears fall. She leans her face into Lilith’s back and cries. The older Clawthorne silently reached back and patted her leg comfortingly. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>She cries all the way home. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Eda and Lilith don’t say anything as they watch the two teens go up the stairs</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The second they set her things down on the floor of Luz’s… their room, she crawls into the bed, shoes and all, and curls into a ball. Luz hasn’t said a word since they left Blight Manor, and she doesn’t still as she crawls into bed behind Amity and holds her close, it’s all she can do.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>She knows Amity is hurting and hates that there's nothing she can do about it, so she settles for holding her, a silent reminder that she’s here if she needs her.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Amity sighed, coming out of her memories to see Lilith looking at her concerned. Amity smiled at her.</p><p>“I’m fine, just…. thinking,” she answers the unasked question, and Lilith nods. </p><p>It’s then that they hear the tell-tale sound of feet on the stairs and Luz walks into the kitchen, dressed, and her staff in hand.</p><p>“Morning Lily.” She smiles at Lilith, who echoes the greeting. She leaned down to kiss Amity. “Morning, sneaky.” she grins and Amity chuckles.</p><p>“You sleep like a hibernating bear-cobra, I hardly have to be that sneaky.” she smiled at Luz over the rim of her teacup as she took a sip. Luz walked over to the counter and with a spin of her staff, all her potions gathered themselves from the counter and bundled themselves together in a convenient sack, hanging from the staff.</p><p>“I know for a fact you’re abnormally quiet and light-footed.” Luz grinned at her, hefting her wares over her shoulder as she grabbed a bottle of apple blood out of the fridge.</p><p>Amity just smirks at her.</p><p>“Welp, I’m off to cure the boils, rashes, and insomnia of the wonderful people of the Boiling Isles,” she declared like she was leaving for battle.</p><p>“What would the people do without you and your glorious, self-sacrificing ways, my dear?” Amity giggled as she stood from the table and set her cup in the sink. </p><p>“We pray that they never have to find out, mi amor.” Luz winked with a grin. Lilith rolled her eyes at the two, even as she smiled to herself.</p><p>“I need to get going myself, I’ll walk you out,” Amity followed her out.</p><p>“Have a good day,” Lilith called after them and they called back goodbyes.</p><p>“You got big plans for the day?” Luz asked as they closed the front door behind them.</p><p>“Just some errands to run…,” she said, not a lie, she did have some errands to run, but she carefully didn’t mention her trip to Blight Manor, it would only worry her. Luz nodded and she mounted her staff. “Don’t work too hard, querida,” Amity mumbled against her lips as she kissed her goodbye. Luz smiled at her.</p><p>“You forget who my mom is, I learned from the best how not to work hard,” she laughed and Amity rolled her eyes, both at Luz and that statement. There are few people who work harder than Luz, but she lets her jest. </p><p>“Have a good day!” Luz blows her a kiss as she flies off toward town. </p><p>Amity watches her go before summoning her own staff and taking off in the opposite direction, toward Blight Manor.    </p><p>It’s a short ride and all too soon the large, opulent house comes into view.</p><p>Amity frowned to herself as she slid from her staff, standing outside the gates to her childhood home, and looked up at it's dark, imposing walls.</p><p>Once this place had been her worst nightmare, the fear of being constantly trapped within its walls, forced to dance along with her mother’s every pull of the string. She’d known since she was a child that her mother had been a conniving manipulator, but she had been a child, helpless to fight against it. Her and her siblings, though the twins did everything they could to help shield her from the worst of it, something she sometimes felt she did not voice enough thanks for, though, even when she did the two would hear none of it, they had all had each other’s backs. </p><p>Speaking of…</p><p>Edric and Emira were standing on the porch, waving at her as she walks through the gate and she smiles at them, even as she rolls her eyes when she sees that Edric still has that ridiculous mustache he insisted on growing.  </p><p>“Well, well, if it isn’t one of the great heroes of the rebellion! To what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?” Edric asks with a bow. Emira rolls her eyes and elbows him before jumping on Amity in a tight hug.</p><p>“We haven’t seen you in weeks!” Emira whined as Amity laughed into her shoulder. </p><p>“Except for the picture of that pretty rock you sent us, let’s see it!’ Edric grinned and Amity rolled her eyes as Emira released her and nodded. </p><p>“Yeah, let’s just see what our future sister-in-law was able to pull together,” she smiled, grabbing Amity’s left hand to hold up for both twins to examine her ring.</p><p>“Very nice,” Edric whistled.</p><p>“It’s beautiful, Amity,” Emira agreed. “We’re so happy for the two of you,” she said and Edric nodded in agreement. </p><p>“Thanks, we’ve already decided on a date. The thirty-first of October,” she says and Edric laughs.</p><p>“Halloween? That’s very ‘Luz’ actually.” He grinned.</p><p>“Actually, it was my idea. that‘s the date of the next blue moon.” She smiled fondly at the memories the mention of the lunar event brings.</p><p>“Aww, that’s sweet,” Emira coos, she’s partially teasing, partially sincere, it is a romantic idea. </p><p>“You two are still ‘that’ couple…” Edric rolled his eyes, even as he’s grinning. “Ridiculous,”</p><p>“What’s ridiculous is that mustache,” Amity claps back, hand on her hip, making Emira snort and Edric frown. </p><p>“I think it’s distinguishing,” he huffed.</p><p>“Distinguishing from what? Good looking facial hair?” Amity cocks a brow, smirking, and Emira barks a laugh.</p><p>“I told you, it’s terrible,” his twin laughs. </p><p>“Please shave it before the wedding, or you can’t be in any photos,” Amity tells him, half-seriously. He crossed his arms and huffs.</p><p>“Fine…”    </p><p>“So… are they here?” Amity asks and the jovial mood dissipates.</p><p>“Yeah, they’re in dad’s study.” Emira frowns and Amity nods as she walks past them into the house.</p><p>The memories that hit her when she steps inside are not good and she pushes them away as she walks down the hall with her siblings.</p><p>Edric knocks and their father’s voice sounds back through the door.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“You have a visitor,” he says.</p><p>“Come in.”</p><p>He opens the door and the twins walk in ahead of her before stepping to either side of the doorway. </p><p>Their parents' faces turn surprised before Odalia’s turns sour again.</p><p>“Amity!” Alador quickly stands from his desk and walks around it toward her.</p><p>To say Amity is surprised when her father wraps his arms around her in a tight hug is an understatement, but it fades quickly and she smiles and hugs him back.</p><p>“Hi, Dad.” She squeezed him before stepping back to look at him. There are a few more lines in his face and grays weaving their way through his auburn hair and beard than the last time she saw him in person, but he otherwise looked unchanged. </p><p>“You look wonderful.” he smiled, brushing his fingers through her own long, auburn hair, gold eyes burning with a warmth that shocks her.</p><p>“Thank you,” she smiled.</p><p>“To what do we owe this, unannounced, visit after three years?” her mother finally speaks up, drawing her gaze and Amity frowns. The message is clear, she is not welcome here, and that is fine by her.</p><p>“Worry not, I won’t be taking up much of your time,” she bit out.</p><p>“Nonsense, come sit.” Alador offered, but Amity shook her head.</p><p>“I have things I need to take care of for the council, I can’t stay long.” she smiled sadly at him, ignoring the look her mother was giving her at the mention of the council and wanted to smirk.</p><p>The Blight family had of course sided with the emperor, or at least her parents and extended family had, until the tides of the war had changed and it became clear that the rebellion was winning, then they had switched sides. After the rebellion was over the Blight family was one of the upper-class families that had been forced to pay reparations for their part in the initial battles against them and were now viewed less favorably by the people of the Isles,  the loss of status was something that Amity knew from her siblings, left Odalia quite bitter. No doubt she blames Amity and of course, Luz, for their parts in the leadership of the rebellion. </p><p>“I wanted to come and share some news with you,” she told her father, who looked at her expectantly. “Luz and I are getting married at the end of October,” she tells him and both her parents are surprised by this. She takes a sick satisfaction in her mother’s scandalized face.</p><p>“That’s wonderful, Amity,” He smiles at her as he gently takes her hand to look at the ring adorning her finger and Amity smiles. Odalia makes a disgruntled, disgusted noise, making her father frown.</p><p>“I can’t believe you intend to drag this family name through the mud further than you already have, first by taking part in that… ill-conceived, rebellion, but now by giving it to a human.” Odalia blight almost spits the word. </p><p>“The ‘family name’...” Amity spat back. “...has never done anything except make me miserable and I want to be done with it.” Alador’s brows shot up and Odalia scowled. “That’s why when Luz and I get married I’m changing my name to Noceda,” she informed them with finality. “I came here today as a courtesy, one you don’t deserve,” she said to her mother. “And to ask you if you’d come, Dad.” Amity turned away from her mother to look at her father, who is still looking at her, face full of surprise. “I’d very much like you to be there.” she looks at him pleadingly. “You don’t need to answer now though, I just wanted to let you know.” She smiled at him and turned to go, but not before her mother landed one last parting shot.</p><p>“Even before the human, you were a disgrace to this family, Amity.”</p><p>“Odalia, that’s enough!” Alador roared, whipping around to glare at his wife, magic energy crackles in the air around him that makes the hair on the back of all three Blight children’s necks stand on end. </p><p>The venom that drips from her mother’s statement does not surprise Amity, and despite how much she has grown to hate and resent her mother for the years of manipulation and verbal abuse thinly disguised as concern, deep in her core, the words still burn her. She hates the green-haired woman standing behind her, yet she’s her mother, the only one she has, unlike Luz, and the fact that the two despise each other claws at a tender place in her heart that had been an open, raw wound since she was a child, a place inside her that had always longed for the kind of relationship her friends had with their parents, no matter how impossible that is, and she knows it. </p><p>So instead she straightens her spine and pulls back her shoulders, steeling herself and trying not to look at her siblings as they stand by the door to their father’s office, a mix of anger and sadness on their near-identical faces. </p><p>“Then it really shouldn’t matter to you who I marry, or what my name is, should it?” Are her parting words as she strides out of the office and down the hall, the twins follow a second behind her, but neither say anything till they are on the front porch.</p><p>“You okay, sis?”  Edric asks her finally. </p><p>“No,” she answers them honestly. “But I didn’t expect anything different…” She summons her staff and mounts it; she can’t be gone from here quick enough.  </p><p>“Let us know if you need anything, okay?” Emira asks, frowning. </p><p>Amity looks at the twins, their concern clear as day on their faces and Amity dismounts her staff to wrap her arms around them both and they squeeze her back tightly.</p><p>“We love you,” They both say, and Amity knows fewer things are truer than that, for which she could never be more grateful.</p><p>“I love you both, too.”  She prys herself from her clinging siblings with a huff of a laugh.</p><p>She quickly jumps on her staff and flies away from Blight Manor, for the last time. </p><p>Tears are starting to burn and blur her vision and as much as she’d like to play it off as the wind whipping past her face, she knows it isn’t. The confrontation left her feeling raw, despite its brevity, she knows for certain that this is the last time she will return to her childhood home. There is nothing left to say to her mother and Amity knows she will never change. </p><p>Her grip on her staff is tight. </p><p>She needed Luz. </p><p>She finds her in her usual space in the market, hocking potions to the people of the Isles, though that makes it sound like it’s a scam, her business is far more reputable than Eda’s ever was, much to the older witch’s chagrin. Luz’s potions, from their school days onwards, are some of the finest quality in all the Boiling Isles and people come from all over to get their hands on them, something Luz is extremely proud of, she was the top student in potions all their years in school after all.</p><p>She has a small crowd, so Amity stands back, waiting because she knows the second Luz sees her she’ll insist on closing her shop for the day, and she doesn't want her to do that. </p><p>When the customers finally dissipate and Luz is left counting snails with Mochuelo standing on her shoulder, hooting quietly at her, does Amity finally approach.</p><p>“Look, I don’t judge them, if the guy needs seven bottles of rash potion, who am I to say no?” she tells her palisman, gesturing with a hand.</p><p>“That sounds like quite the rash,” Amity says as she stands to the side of the stand, making Luz jump.</p><p>“Amity, what are you doing here?” Luz’s face lights up like the sun peeking over the mountains until she gets a good look at her fiancée. She’s leaning heavily on her staff, and her eyes hold a hint of red that indicates she’d been crying and Luz’s smile drops, brows drawing between her eyes.</p><p>“I just... needed to see you.” Her voice is tight. </p><p>Mochuelo jumps off Luz’s shoulder as she sets her bag of snails under the counter and walks over, reaching up to cup her face and wipe the remnants of tears away with her thumbs. They are mostly dry but she can clearly see the track marks left behind on her cheeks and the puffiness around her eyes.  </p><p> “What’s wrong, did something happen, amor?” she asks her gently.</p><p>Amity just lays her staff against the stand, Calliban slithering off it, and wraps herself around Luz, desperately seeking her comforting embrace, which the human would never deny and squeezes her back, rubbing her hand up and down Amity’s back. She’s learned over the years that Amity will tell her what’s wrong when she’s ready, so she waits.</p><p>She whistles at the two palisman, and the two flip-down her closed sign. </p><p>“Come on.” Luz lifts her with a frown and carries her back behind the stalls curtains where she keeps her stock, it’s dim and she carefully slides them to the ground, Amity in her lap.</p><p>Luz contents herself with running her hand through Amity’s long, soft, auburn hair until she sighs heavily against her and leans back so she can look at those concerned, deep, brown eyes.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I should have gone home instead of coming here and bothering you while you’re busy...” </p><p>“You’re never a bother to me, Amity,” Luz said, wiping at her face with the back of her fingers. The corner of the witch’s lips curled upward ever so slightly at that but quickly fell again as she spoke.</p><p>“I went to see my parents today,” she finally said and watched as Luz’s brows shot into her hairline. </p><p>“Why?” the tone isn’t angry or judging, just curious and concerned. </p><p>“I wanted to invite my father to the wedding… we might not have the best relationship, but I do love him. I’d like him to be there, and I…” she trailed off, biting her lip. Luz waited, squeezing her gently. “I guess I just hoped that maybe, just maybe, my mother had changed in the last three years, but I should have known better, she’s never going to change,” Amity sighed.   </p><p>“I’m sorry, mi amor.” Luz frowned, resting her forehead against Amity’s. “I wish she wasn’t like this either.” </p><p>“It’s fine…”</p><p>“No it isn’t,” Luz cut her off. Amity always downplayed her feelings when it came to her mother, but Luz knew better. “It’s not fine, but, you know, it is okay for you, not to be fine, right?” she asked her quietly. Gold eyes stared back at her for a long moment.</p><p>“Right…,” Amity sighed, closing her eyes and leaning into Luz. “I wish I had a mom like yours…,” she sighed </p><p>“Which one?” Luz asked with a small grin and Amity couldn’t help but smirk at the question.</p><p>“Either,” she mumbled. “I should head back to the house and let you work.” she moved to pull away but Luz only held on tighter.</p><p>“It’s lunchtime, I wouldn’t be working right now anyway, so just stay a while, we can get lunch at Redstone…” Luz wheedled making Amity smile. She still felt so wounded, but Luz was always a balm on the pains in her heart.</p><p>“Okay.” </p><p>As they walked down the street Luz was already trying considering her next plan of action, and she thinks she needs to make another visit to her mother.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luz laid on her back across the bed staring up at the ceiling of their bedroom and kicking her feet back and forth, just as she’d been doing for the last forty-five minutes. She tugged at her dark green blouse.</p><p>“Are you ready yet?” she asked finally, turning her head to look at Amity’s back as she stood in front of the mirror carefully applying eyeliner. </p><p>“Almost, be patient,” Amity mumbled distractedly and Luz sighed.</p><p>“You said that almost an hour ago,” she groaned, dragging her hands down her face. “It’s just dinner with my mom.” </p><p>Amity stops what she’s doing and whips around to face her.</p><p>“It is not JUST dinner with your mom, Luz, this is... this is dinner with your MOM!” she emphasizes, and Luz blinks at her.</p><p>“I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what I just said.” she frowned and Amity groaned, rubbing a temple.</p><p>“I know this isn’t a big deal to you, Luz, but it is to me. I’ve never met your mom and we’re getting married in five months. I want her to like me, I need her to like me!” Amity slapped a hand against her chest, and if she looks a little hysterical at the moment, Luz isn’t going to tell her so, but she does sit up and hop up off the bed to wrap her arms around Amity’s waist as she turns back to the mirror, propping her head on her shoulder.</p><p>“Amor, relax,” Luz soothed. “Mami will adore you, what could she possibly not love about you?” she asked, giving her a gentle squeeze. </p><p>“The whole not human thing might be a reason…,” Amity frowned, pushing a stray strand of long auburn hair behind one of her pointed ears, eyes flickering to look at it. Luz noticed her glance. “I just… can’t have your mom hate me too.” it’s barely a whisper under her breath but she hears and Luz’s heart clenches at the quiet words. God does she hate Odalia Blight. </p><p>“Hey, it’s going to be okay! Just because your mom is a pendejo doesn’t mean my mom isn’t going to love you!” She promises, squeezing her. Amity snorts at the word, grinning at her in the mirror. “She already knows you’re a witch, Amity, and I think your ears are cute,” she punctuates the statement by kissing the pointed appendage next to her face. Amity smiles, grabbing the hands wrapped around her waist. She hums as Luz’s kisses don’t stop there and start to trail away from her ear and down her neck and then her teeth are pressing into her skin and she jumps, she can’t suppress the sound that rises in her throat at that, which only encourages Luz. She already knows where this is going and needs to stop it and finish getting ready; needs to. </p><p>“Luz…,” she mumbles but doesn’t immediately pull away or tell her to stop.</p><p>“Hmm?” Luz hums distractedly. </p><p>“I need to finish getting ready, your mom is expecting us in twenty minutes…” </p><p>“That’s plenty of time…,” she mumbles</p><p>Amity can't help the burst of laughter at that and finally shoved her away, grinning</p><p>“No, it is not, and you know it! More importantly, I can not go and have dinner with your mother and look her in the face after having sex with you.” </p><p>“I could…,” she grumbles, crossing her arms and plopping back down on the bed. Amity rolled her eyes and turned back to the mirror, fixing her hair Luz had ruffled. Gold eyes narrowed and she leaned forward into the mirror. She could already see the dark spot forming on her neck.</p><p>“Luz!” she yelped, turning around to scowl at her. “Really?!” she frowned, gesturing to the spot appearing on her neck.</p><p>“Oops… sorry...” She grimaced. </p><p>Luz sat quietly on the bed, leaving her now irritated fiancée alone to cover the hickey forming on her neck with makeup. </p><p>“I’ll wait for you downstairs,” Luz said, as she hopped off the bed, Amity made a sound of acknowledgment in her throat.</p><p>Luz rubbed her hands together nervously as she walked into the kitchen where Lilith was sitting at the table, flipping through a book as Eda tried to coerce some vegetables into a pot of boiling water.</p><p>“She’s so nervous…,” she sighed, sitting at the table.</p><p>“Understandable, she’s meeting your mother for the first time just before the two of you get married.” Lilith looked up at her.</p><p>“Not to mention all the shit that went down with her own mother…,” Eda grunted.</p><p>“You mean the other day?” Luz looked over at her.</p><p>“I mean her whole life, Kid.” Eda frowned, making Luz sigh and run a hand through her hair.</p><p>“She’s been kinda down since she went to Blight Manor, and she still hasn’t heard from her dad, which is not helping,” Luz grumbled.</p><p>“You really think taking her to meet your mother is the best course of action?” Lilith asked, concern clear on her face. Luz nodded enthusiastically. </p><p>“For sure! I know she’s nervous, but I know Mami’s going to love her, maybe Odalia can’t see how amazing Amity is but I know my mother will!” Luz said confidently. </p><p>The sisters grinned at her. </p><p>“Here’s hoping it all goes well, Kid.” Eda raised her bottle of apple blood before taking a long drink, making Luz grin.</p><p>“Thanks, mom.”  </p><p>“I’m sure your mother will clearly see what a lovely young woman Amity is,” Lilith agreed.  </p><p>“Thanks, but, yeah. What’s not to love about Amity?” Luz asked rhetorically, maybe looking stupidly lovestruck as she says it, mostly to herself, but then Eda snorted, drawing her and Lilith’s gaze.</p><p>“Something to add, sister?” Lilith cocked a brow at her while Luz gave her a bewildered look.</p><p>“Oh, don’t look at me like that you two, you have to admit, there are some things that some people definitely wouldn’t love about her as much as you do, Luz. She does still have some of those… ‘Blight’ tendencies.” Eda waved a hand but Luz glared at her. “I love the kid, You know what I mean!”</p><p>“I do know what you mean, yeah, but please don’t say that to her!” Luz said sternly. “I know it and Amity knows it too, and she works hard every day to try and put all that crap her mom shoved down her throat as a kid behind her… it’s just hard, it’s automatic sometimes.” Luz frowned, drumming her fingers on the table. </p><p>“You are both right, of course,” Lilith finally said, setting her book aside. “Amity does have a tendency to be arrogant, condescending, and prideful,” she said, looking at Luz, who pursed her lips. “But she makes every effort to squash those tendencies her mother instilled in her, but years upon years of the same rhetoric can not quickly be undone.” She glanced at her sister, who grunted in answer.</p><p>“I was just saying, not everyone can see her for how she really is like you can, Luz.” Eda shrugged.</p><p>“I know, but I know my mother is gonna love her!” she asserted confidently.</p><p>A door upstairs closes and then there are footsteps on the stairs before Amity walks into the kitchen.</p><p>“I’m ready to go, Luz.” She looks at her.</p><p>“Great.” she smiled, jumping up. “See you guys later!” Luz called as she wrapped her arm around Amity’s and led her out of the house. </p><p>“Good luck!” Eda called.</p><p>Amity definitely seemed less irritated and just nervous now, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from her knee-length black dress as they walked out of the house and around back to the portal.</p><p>“You look wonderful, Amity.” Luz tried to soothe some of her nerves, squeezing her hand. Amity hummed, smiling at her, but Luz could see how nervous she was. “It’s going to be fine, I promise!” </p><p>"Right… fine." Amity nodded. "Oh, right…" she suddenly remembered and spun a finger and her ears glowed before appearing as rounded as Luz's.</p><p>"How's this?" she asked and Luz made a face. "What, do I not look human?"</p><p>"No, no you do… but I don't like it!” she whined. “You're not you!" Luz frowned, but Amity couldn't help but smile at that.</p><p>"Well, we don't want any other humans to see me right?" </p><p>"I mean, we're really not going very far, we won't even pass any other houses," Luz reasoned.</p><p>"Alright, alright." She smiled and undid the illusion. "Better?"</p><p>"Much." she nodded, smiling before she opened the door to the portal and gestured for Amity to step through.</p><p>This was something else she’d been nervous about, going to the human realm for the first time.</p><p>She stepped through and Luz followed. Amity looked around, it didn't look all that different from the Isles, just some woods, though the sounds and smells were different, her nose wrinkled at the strange, dirty smell in the air.</p><p>Luz closed the door behind them and took Amity's hand.</p><p>"Come on." Luz pulled her along through the wood. When they broke the tree line Amity stopped to stare in open wonder at the paved road and the cars driving by.</p><p>"Are those the 'cars' you've told me about?" she asked.</p><p>"Yeah! When we have a free day we'll come and I'll show you a bunch of stuff, we'll go to the movies or something fun like that," Luz promised. "For now, better go, don't need too many people staring at you." She pulled her transfixed fiancée along.</p><p>"Because of my ears?" Amity frowned, reaching up to touch one of her earrings with her free hand.</p><p>"Pfft, no, cuz you're so beautiful, duh." She grinned at her and Amity's cheek pinked. "Like I need to be getting into a fight with some human guy right before we have dinner with my mom…," Luz said making Amity chuckle.</p><p>"Of course." She rolled her eyes fondly.</p><p>She pulled them along to the house on the corner, just outside the woods.</p><p>"You weren't kidding when you said it wasn't far," Amity said, looking at the house.</p><p>"Mhmm. Ready?" Luz asked as they stood on the porch. Amity smoothed her hair and dress, much to Luz's silent amusement before finally nodding.</p><p>"I'm ready." She nodded. </p><p>Luz knocked and a few moments later the door swung open.</p><p>"¡Mija, estás aquí!" Camila smiled brightly, wrapping her daughter in a tight hug.</p><p>"¡Te dije que lo estaría!" She laughed before extracting herself from her mother's grip to set a hand on the small of Amity's back. Amity tensed, knowing what was coming.</p><p>"Amity, this my mother, Camila Noceda. Mami, this is my fiancée, Amity Blight," she introduced her with a bright grin. </p><p>Amity swallowed thickly as brown eyes, identical to Luz's, landed on her and she straightened. </p><p>Camila quickly glanced over her future daughter-in-law. The first thing she noticed was how tall she was, along with the pointed ears and those piercing gold eyes. Luz hadn’t been exaggerating when she said how beautiful Amity was, but she was shocked further by the words that then came out of her mouth.</p><p>"Es un placer conocerla, señora Noceda." Amity greeted, sticking her hand out, hoping she didn't still sound nervous in Spanish. Luz assured her her accent was near flawless these days, but she wasn't sure. They had spent all of yesterday conversing in Spanish so Amity could be sure she wasn’t forgetting anything.</p><p>Camila's eyes widened at that before she smiled brightly at her and grabbed her hand.</p><p>"It's so good to meet you!" Camila took her hand in both of hers. "You were right, Mija, she is beautiful." She smiled and Luz grinned, while Amity flushed. "Come in, come in." She motioned after releasing her and stepped to the side to allow them in.</p><p>Amity glanced around the cozy home as she followed Luz inside. Some of the furnishings were so different than she was accustomed to, while others like the couch and chairs were not. There was a strange, flat black rectangle hanging on the wall. She blinked at her reflection in it. Some kind of portal maybe?</p><p>Luz turned to see what she was looking at and grinned.</p><p>"That's a television. It's like a crystal ball," Luz explained and Amity hummed.</p><p>"Please, have a seat." Camila herded them to the couch and sat across from them in a chair. "They speak Espanol in the 'demon realm'?" Camila asked, looking at Luz.</p><p>"Oh, no," she laughed. "They only have English… well, and ancient demon chanting, though I’m not sure that counts…," she hummed, tapping her chin.</p><p>"I learned from Luz," Amity said. </p><p>"I'm surprised, Luz was never much of a teacher," Camila admitted, looking at her with a smirk. Luz pressed a hand to her chest over her heart and gasped in mock offense. </p><p>"Luz was a wonderful teacher," Amity defended and Luz smiled, reaching over to hold her hand between them. This doesn't go unnoticed by Camila.</p><p>"So it seems, your accent is impeccable." She smiled. "Luz told me a bit about you when she was here last, but I'm interested to learn more."</p><p>"Oh, What would you like to know?" She reached up and brushed some hair behind one of her ears, that right now she felt must be so very attention-grabbing. Was this how Luz always felt at home, glaringly out of place?"</p><p>"What do you do for a living?"</p><p>"Ah, right now, I spend most of my time acting as an advisor of sorts to the new council, it's really tedious, uninteresting stuff," she said.</p><p>"That's not true, what you do is super important, amor. The council is full of idiots who wouldn't have a clue without you and Lilith to tell them what to do. The Isles would be doomed without you." Luz quickly jumps in to defend her current daily work.</p><p>"There wouldn't even be a council without you kick-starting and fighting in the rebellion," Amity reminded her</p><p>"Luz talked about how there was rebellion, but she never mentioned fighting in it…" Camila turned her sharp gaze to her daughter.</p><p>"Oh… well…," Luz trailed off scratching the back of her head. "It wasn't much fighting," she mumbled.</p><p>"You lead multiple battles over two years," Amity unhelpfully reminded, unaware of the disapproving look her fiancée's mother is giving her daughter.</p><p>"I'm starving! When's dinner, Mami?" Luz quickly tries to change the subject.</p><p>"It should be done soon, but I'd like to hear more about these 'battles'," she says looking at Amity, who is only too happy to regale her mother with tales of, unfortunately, some of the rougher fights they'd had in the past, though they were the ones in which Luz had proven herself to be an intrepid and brave leader. </p><p>Luz suddenly realized how dangerous they all sound though as Amity tells them with pride to her mother, whose face is a mix of emotions over the course of the tales, which she knew of course, but it sounds that much worse watching her mother listen to the stories. </p><p>"That's… a lot to take in," Camila finally says, looking between the two of them, Luz grimaces.  </p><p>"Every battle we fought was, unfortunately, necessary for the freedoms everyone now enjoys back home. Without Luz, I don't think it would have been possible…," Amity tells her.</p><p>Luz is embarrassed, the same way she always gets when people tell stories about her days in the rebellion, but Amity always tells the stories with such evident pride and admiration that it embarrasses her even as it warms her up inside. There are just as many stories of Amity diving headfirst into the middle of raging battles on her staff, drawing spell circles so fast it would make her dizzy watching, but everyone knows them, so Luz rarely gets the opportunity to praise her longtime girlfriend’s own valor. She makes a mental note to tell her mother Amity’s stories of heroism when she’s more comfortable with the idea, which judging by her face at the moment; is not now. </p><p>Her mother's expression is unreadable, but before she can say anything the oven timer goes off.</p><p>"Oh, the oven, excuse me," Camila says and stands disappearing into the kitchen.</p><p>"Please don't tell her any more stories about the rebellion!" Luz hisses to Amity as soon as she's sure her mother is gone.</p><p>"What, why?" Amity blinks, wondering if she's done something wrong.</p><p>"You think you get all worried when I'm doing something stupid? Now imagine you're my mother," Luz said. </p><p>"I would prefer not to…" Amity can't help but smirk, and maybe it's her small way of getting back at Luz for the hickey, and it works, her face turns bright red. </p><p>"You are the worst. You know exactly what I meant!" Luz frowns. </p><p>"Fine, I just think your mother would be as proud of you as I am." Amity turns her head away and hears Luz sigh.</p><p>"I know, Amity, but I've seen her three times in six years, I just don't want to give her any extra reasons yet to worry about me when we're back home."</p><p>"Of course, you're right," Amity concedes, looking at her. "You planned to bring her to the Isles though, you don't think some things there won't… freak her out?" she asked.</p><p>"We have to ease her into it… I figured I'd bring her to Sunday night dinner next week to meet everyone." </p><p>"You think dinner with Eda, Lilith, our friends, and my siblings is easing her into it?" Amity gave her a deadpan look.</p><p>"I mean…," Luz started.</p><p>"Last week Viney and Gus crashed Puddles through the kitchen window and Eda and Lilith had a glyph fight over dessert… After Willow and Emira had a witch's duel in the front yard to decide who my maid of honor would be…" she crossed her arms.</p><p>"Well, now we know it's Willow..,." Luz chuckled, but Amity was still giving her a look. "That is one of the reasons it was so important that I brought you here to have dinner with her alone. You wanted to make a good first impression, and we really didn't need Ed and Em to meet her at the same time… or mom… I still haven't figured out how to tell her about that…" Luz trailed off, looking unsure.</p><p>Amity reached over and grabbed her hand.</p><p>"I'm sure she'll understand, Luz. Someone had to take care of you, it was only natural that Eda would fill that void in your life, and anyone can tell how much Eda loves you." she tried to ease Luz's worry about introducing her two mothers to each other.</p><p>"I know… I just don't want her to think that I replaced her. I always missed her, she just couldn't be there for me the same way mom was…" Luz frowned.</p><p>"It'll be okay, querida." Amity squeezed her hand and pressed a kiss to her cheek, which happened to be the same moment Camila returned to tell them dinner was ready and Amity whipped back, face pink as Camila was giving her an amused look.</p><p>"Smells great, Mami, what did you make?" Luz asked, standing.</p><p>"Chivo liniero." She smiled as Luz grinned and practically ran into the kitchen, Amity followed her, trying not to look Camila in the eye as she passed.</p><p>They sat at the small table and Camila set bowels in front of them filled with a thick, dark red stew, rice, and tostones on the side.</p><p>Luz was salivating and didn't hesitate to start spooning the stew into her mouth and humming in delight. She wanted to cry, it tasted the same as it did in her memories.</p><p>Amity smiled at her fiancée’s palpable joy.</p><p>"I don't know if you have anything like this back home, but I hope you enjoy it, Amity," Camila said, smiling at her across the table.</p><p>"I'm sure it's delicious," Amity told her politely, and then Luz is holding a tostone in front of her.</p><p>"Try this Amity, maybe you'll finally believe me that yours taste just like them." Luz grinned.</p><p>"You've made tostones?" Camila asks.</p><p>"We don't have plantains on the Isles, but I've made something similar for Luz," she explains.</p><p>"Yeah, when we first started dating, they taste just like yours," Luz confirmed, still holding the fried disk out to Amity who rolled her eyes. She was not going to let Luz feed her in front of her mother, but took it from her and took a bite. It really did taste nearly identical to the ones she sometimes made for Luz. Luz grinned and laughingly went on. "Probably why I ended up blurting out that I loved you a month into dating...Ow!" Her laugh was cut short as Amity glared at her and set her heeled foot back on the floor after kicking her fiancée under the table. "Kidding! I was kidding, mi amor!" Luz whined. that smarted. Amity huffed.</p><p>Camila chuckled under her breath as she started eating, glancing between the pair. Knowing her daughter, or at least the aspects of her personality that seemed to have carried over into adulthood, she wasn't surprised by the dynamic she seemed to have with her fiancée, though she hadn’t yet seen enough of Amity to make any concrete conclusions about her future daughter-in-law yet.</p><p>Amity carefully spooned some of the wonderful smelling food in her mouth, vaguely wondering if she might have any reactions to human food the same way Luz did to certain things on the Isles; she hoped to the Titan that if she did it wouldn't be to whatever this was. </p><p>Flavors like she's never known before exploded across her tongue. Luz grinned behind her own spoon, watching the wonder that filled Amity's face as she took her first bite, followed quickly by another. She goes back to her own food happily enjoying the way the heat begins to creep up on her, burning her mouth in that pleasurable way spicy food always has, a good pain. Her mother always made it extra spicy for her.</p><p>She pauses and blinks before her eyes go wide and her gaze shoots to Amity, and she can begin to see the exact moment the heat starts to creep up on her very, VERY, spice sensitive fiancée. </p><p>Amity is holding her spoon tightly and her cheeks are slightly flushed as she stares down at her food like it had been a trap. </p><p>Her mouth Is. On. fire!</p><p>Every nerve on her tongue burns and her eyes are starting to water. She knows what’s happening. She’d learned the hard way after a time that Luz had cooked for her that she can nowhere near handle the same level of spice that Luz, and apparently Camila, enjoyed.</p><p>But she's now stuck between a rock and a very hot place. She knows that dining etiquette in the human realm is similar enough to the Isles that it would be rude not to eat what’s been served to her, especially by her future mother-in-law, so even though it feels like she’s going to die, she keeps eating; though a little quicker than normal.</p><p>Luz watches her with wide eyes and is torn by her incredible love for this woman and her absolute exasperation at her perfectionist need to please, even to her detriment. She bites her lip, considering what she should do. She should make her stop, tell her mother that Amity is very sensitive to spicy foods, but that would just embarrass her and she knows how important this is to Amity. She bounced her foot, thinking quickly.</p><p>"Mami, do we have any milk?" she asks suddenly and Camila looks up.</p><p>“There’s almond milk In the fridge, yes.” </p><p>“Do you want some too, Amity?” she asks, making her look up from her near fever-induced trance, sweat beading up on her forehead, to see the hard, meaningful look Luz is giving her and nods jerkily.</p><p>“Yes, please.” She manages to almost sound normal. </p><p>Luz hops up and grabs two glasses and quickly pours them before she sets one in front of Amity, who grabs it almost immediately and downs half of it, luckily her mother isn’t looking at the moment. </p><p>Luz shakes her head to herself as she watches Amity continue to eat between drinks and when her glass is empty, Luz slyly slides her untouched glass to her and pulls the empty one over to her plate, giving Amity a clearly disapproving look that tells her exactly how she feels about what she’s doing. Amity ignores it. They both know she’s going to pay for it dearly later, not that she isn’t now, but that’s a problem for later.</p><p>“My, you must have liked it, I’ve only ever seen Luz eat that fast!” Camila laughed when ten minutes into dinner Amity’s plate lies empty. “Would you like some more?”</p><p>“No!” she coughs, reeling it back in and trying to speak when it feels like she could breathe fire better than Calliban. “No, thank you, I couldn’t possibly eat another bite. It was delicious, though, thank you.” She smiles.</p><p>“How on earth did you manage to find yourself such a polite young woman?” Camila turns to her daughter with an amused smile. </p><p>‘I didn’t find her on Earth,” Luz quips. “And I’m polite!” She argues. </p><p>Amity glances around the kitchen as she sips on the glass of milk, trying desperately to wash away the heat still rippling across her tongue and hanging on the wall she spots a framed photo of Luz, grinning cheesily at the camera and covered head to toe in mud, her eyes only just barely visible as she proudly held up some kind of small green creature. </p><p>Finished with teasing her daughter, Camila looks to see what has captured Amity’s attention and smiles when she sees the photo, the only one she had left up after Luz had disappeared. It had been too hard to look at all the ones that used to hang in the living room. She really needs to get those out of Luz’s bedroom.</p><p>“She had to have three baths after that,” Camila says to her, making Amity look up and she can’t help but grin. </p><p>“That sounds about right, she was covered in abomination goo when we met,” she says, glancing at Luz. </p><p>“Would you like to see some of her baby photos?”</p><p>“No!” Luz jumps in.</p><p>“Yes, please.” Amity brightens. </p><p>“Luz, why don’t you run upstairs and grab the box sitting on your old bed while I pick this up?” </p><p>“Why are they upstairs?” Luz asks, confused, only now noticing that all the photos that once hung in the house are gone, and her mother frowns, hesitating.  She has to remind herself that Luz isn’t a child anymore and she needs to be honest about it, about the things that transpired over the last six years she was gone if she wants Luz to do the same. She knows there are things that her daughter isn’t telling her, though she doesn't know just what they are yet. </p><p>“I put them all away two years after you disappeared, they were too hard to look at after a while,” she finally says and the mood in the kitchen noticeably drops. </p><p>“Oh…,” Luz says quietly and Amity squeezes her leg under the table, still nursing her milk. “Yeah... sure. Come on, Amity. I’ll show you my old room.” Luz stood from the table, Amity following behind her back through the living room and up the stairs. Luz doesn’t say anything as they do. </p><p>She stops at a door with a sheet of notebook paper taped to it that has a drawing, obviously done by Luz, of herself, dressed as Azura. She opens it and they step into what was obviously once a teenage girl's room. There’s a desk with a book laying open on its surface and a corkboard hanging over it with various notes and drawings tacked to it. A bookshelf sits in the corner full of books and the walls are covered in Azura and anime posters, clothes are strewn across the floor in various places. </p><p>Luz’s hand on the knob tightens as she looks around at her old bedroom. The dirty, long unwashed window, letting little light in. This room, unlike the rest of the house, feels like it’s been stuck in a loop in time, the only way she can tell that time has, in fact, passed, is the thick layer of dust that covers everything.  </p><p>“She never touched anything…,” she finally mumbles quietly.</p><p>Hands grip her shoulders gently and Amity is pressing against her back, a reassuring presence that Luz greatly appreciates at this moment. She reached back to lay a hand over one of Amity’s smaller ones on her shoulder and squeezed it, silent thanks that she understands well. Amity doesn’t need to ask if she’s okay, because she knows there is no straightforward answer to that.</p><p>Luz sighs quietly through her nose as she looks at all her old things, left behind to rot, untouched, and spots the cardboard box sitting on her bed that obviously doesn’t belong with everything else in the room. She walks over to it and picks it up. She glances at her unmade bed as she does. Sheets still turned back from when she’d hopped out of bed the morning she’d left for ‘summer camp’. </p><p>“I forgot to make my bed that morning,” she says aloud, but Amity doesn’t say anything, just watches her quietly. “...I figured I could just do it when I got back…,” she says quietly. </p><p>Amity watches silently from the doorway as Luz sets the box on the carpet and starts to carefully make the bed, sending a cloud of dust in the air that creates a little snowstorm as the particles float in the rays of the dim sunlight coming in the window. </p><p>When she’s satisfied, she picks the box back up and walks back to the door. </p><p>“I’ll make sure to make ours every morning,” Luz says as she stops next to her, the look in her dark eyes is so intense, and the words said with such absolute conviction Amity had to suppress a shiver at the low tone they’re delivered in. The words would sound strange to anyone else, a bizarre declaration, but Amity understands the promise clearly.  </p><p>“I know you will, Luz,” she answers and Luz nods, satisfied, and walks down the hall. Amity closed the door to the old bedroom behind her before she followed. </p><p>“Mami, I got them!” Luz called as they walked into the living room.</p><p>Camila comes out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishrag, and can see that both girls look strangely intense, but she doesn't mention it as they sit on the couch.</p><p>Camila digs through the box and smiles as she pulls out Luz’s baby album. It no longer hurt to look at them as it would have just two weeks ago. The first two years after Luz had vanished had felt like agony every time she passed one of her daughter’s photos on the wall, sometimes causing her to burst into tears. It was just after one such outburst two years in that she had packed them all in a box and left them sitting on Luz’s bed, safe for a future day when it didn’t cause her heart to crack looking at them, but that day had never come; till now. </p><p>She flips it open and shows it to Amity, sitting on her right.</p><p>There are photos of her just after birth in the hospital followed by just after she’d been brought home.</p><p>“This is her first bath.” Camila smiles proudly and Amity coos at the photo while Luz groans into her hands.   </p><p>“Why?” she hisses, face already turning red.</p><p>They spend twenty minutes looking at the album and other pictures in the box Camila had taken off the walls.</p><p>Amity is snickering at a picture of Luz as a toddler, grinning brightly at the camera, a large gap in her wide smile and covered in glue, glitter all over her.</p><p>“I’m sensing a theme between you and sticky substances,” Amity smirked at her. Luz stuck her tongue out at her. It was while looking at the photo that Camila had a thought she just couldn’t keep to herself.</p><p>“Wouldn’t a bebe with your face and Amity’s eyes just be adorable?” Camila looked at them and both their faces erupt in red.</p><p>“Mami, we’re not even married yet!” Luz chokes.</p><p>“Just a thought, Mija.” Camila smiles to herself, but she can clearly see that despite her bright red face, Amity is imagining the same thing now, and she is. A child with Luz’s darker complexion, fluffy, brown hair, and her own bright gold eyes and ears.</p><p><i>‘Cute’</i> she thinks.</p><p> Luz looks at her and sees the thoughtful look too and turns even redder. </p><p>Camila flips through the album, disappointed that half the pages are blank, a strong reminder of the last six years that have been lost and Amity seems to notice as she stops on a page that has Luz from what must be right before they met and the next is glaringly blank. </p><p>Amity hesitates a second before she speaks.</p><p>“I have some from around this time and after if you’d like to see them?” she asks and Camila looks at her with surprise, the look in her eyes is intense but Amity can’t put a name to it. </p><p>“I’d like that, yes.” Camila smiles and Amity nods, lifting a hand, and Camila watches, fascinated as she spins a finger in a large circle and a magenta ring of light blinks into existence and a book falls out of it into Amity’s hands. It's pink with black binding and reads ‘memories’ in neat, looping calligraphy. </p><p>“I didn’t know you kept a photo album.” Luz scoots in closer to look over her shoulder at the book. </p><p>“Mhmm” Amity nods as she hands it to Camila, who flips it open. The first photos are of them and their friends from Grom. Luz and Amity take turns explaining the scenarios laid out in front of them as they flip through it. Amity, like everything else she does, is a meticulous record keeper. Many of the pivotal moments of their relationship and lives with their friends are taped to the books pages and many not so important little moments, like them with Gus and Willow one Halloween. Gus dressed as a toaster, yet somehow, Luz is still the standout in the picture, dressed as a werewolf while everyone else is dressed like humans. Right below it is a photo of the same scene sometime later. With Luz, hands held up in front of her as a large angry werewolf shouts at her.</p><p>“He did not appreciate my costume…,” Luz said. </p><p>“I think what he found offense with was when you howled at him,” she clarified, smirking.</p><p>“How was I supposed to know that was a werewolf curse?” she asked, raising a hand.</p><p>Amity lets Luz tell most of the tales, except the ones she doesn’t know, like ones where Luz is clearly not paying attention to the photos being taken of her, like as she zips along on Eda’s staff and a couple where she is asleep, splayed out on the couch or under a tree, and one where she and Amity are clearly laying in bed, Luz with her mouth open and drooling, arms wrapped around Amity, who is taking the photo from above them, smiling, sickeningly sweet at the camera. </p><p>“Do you often take photos of me asleep?” Luz smirks at her and she pinks.</p><p>“Not...often…,” she mumbled, and Luz snickers, sitting her chin on her shoulder and giving her a smug, knowing look. “Shut up…,” Amity grumbled.</p><p>Camila flips the page and on it is a picture of all of them at graduation, shoved together and showing off their staffs, and next to it is one of the two of them with Eda and Lilith just after, standing in front of the owl house, Eda with her arm draped around Luz and grinning toothily, both holding their owl topped staffs. The Owl Lady had never looked so proud. Next to them are Lilith and Amity, the former with her hand resting on the laters shoulder, also both proudly holding their staffs and smiling at the camera. The low angle of the photo indicates King as the photographer.</p><p>“That’s Eda and Lilith.” Amity points out the two sisters.</p><p>“Eda is the woman who took care of you, right, Mija?” Camila looks to her daughter, who freezes. </p><p>“Yeah,” she says simply. She needs to tell her mother about her co motherhood with Eda, but she has not a clue how that conversation will go, and today was about introducing her mother to Amity, she doesn’t want to taint her perception of the witch should that conversation go poorly, so she holds her tongue; for now. Amity glances at her out of the corner of her eye but says nothing. </p><p>“I can make copies of any of these if you’d like.” Amity turns to Camila who smiles.</p><p>“I’d like that, thank you,” she says and Amity nods. “Tell me, have you two made any plans for the wedding yet?” she asks, closing the book and handing it back to Amity, who set it on the coffee table.</p><p>“Not really, but that's still five months away, and neither of us wanna do anything big, so we don’t need to do that much planning.” Luz shrugged.</p><p>“We have picked a date,” Amity tells her.</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>“Halloween!” Luz grinned.</p><p>“Why does that not surprise me?” Camila looked at her daughter with fond exasperation. </p><p>“It's only a coincidence that it's Halloween. We picked it because that’s the date of the next blue moon,” Amity explains. </p><p>“Oh, I see. Luz told me about the masquerade party.” Camila smiles at that. </p><p>“Yeah! Other than that we have made zero decisions… except that it can’t be costume themed…” Luz pouted and Amity rolled her eyes. “But yea, October thirty-first, Mami, save the date!” She grinned brightly. </p><p>“I’ll be there of course.” she nodded. “Are you changing your name, Mija?” she asked curiously.</p><p>“Oh, I hadn’t thought about it…,” Luz hummed.</p><p>“I have, I just hadn’t had a chance to talk to you about it yet,” Amity piped up, drawing both women’s eyes.</p><p>“Yeah? Did you want to hyphenate them or…,” Luz trailed off. Amity shook her head.</p><p>“No, actually, if it’s alright with you, I’d like to change mine to Noceda,” she tells her, and Luz’s face morphs into pleasantly surprised shock. </p><p>“Of course you can, mi amor!” She grins, throwing an arm around Amity’s waist and squeezing her. “‘Luz Blight’ doesn't really roll off the tongue anyway.” she grinned but then her face took on that look that tells Amity she’s thinking.</p><p>“What?” Amity cocks a brow at her.</p><p>“I do rather like the sound of ‘Amity Noceda’ though.” She smiles at her in that soft way that makes the tips of Amity’s ears turn pink. </p><p>“Stop it,” she whispers.</p><p>“I’m not doing anything.” Luz grinned, leaning in close. She knows exactly what she’s doing. </p><p>“You know exactly what you’re doing!” she hissed quietly, leaning her head back, away from her encroaching fiancée, face following along with the color of her ears, well aware that Camila is watching them, but that doesn’t stop Luz from darting forward and pecking Amity’s lips. She makes an embarrassed squeak. </p><p>Since her pointed ears stick out away from her head, Camila can clearly see them turning red and laughs behind her hand. Luz just grins even as Amity glares at her, though the look is diminished by her red hot face. </p><p>Camila believes she’s seen enough to finally make a sound judgment of Amity Blight. </p><p>She’s a lovely young woman, who seems to make her daughter incredibly happy and who she’s glad to welcome into the family. It’s astounding to her, how in the span of two weeks she could go from having felt so empty to her heart overflowing with joy.     </p><p>“It’s funny,” Camila starts, drawing both women’s eyes. “I thought I had lost Luz forever, but then she comes back and brings me a second daughter too,” Camila laughed and Luz smiles at her, the expression threatening to split her face.</p><p>Amity has frozen as the words hit her, hearing those words come out of Camila’s mouth makes her brain screech to a halt. </p><p>In two hours, she feels more wanted by Luz’s mother than she ever had by her own in twenty-one years of living. On top of her fresh confrontation with her mother a few days ago, it’s too much, it’s hard to breathe, and her hands fist into the fabric of her dress. Emotions rise up in her chest, strong ones, that suddenly threaten to choke her with their intensity.  </p><p>“I…,” she stalls, and Luz can see what’s happening in her face. They’ve seen each other at their best and absolute, messy worst, and she immediately knows the signs of Amity on the verge of an emotion induced anxiety attack, and she leans in close, hand on her waist squeezing comfortingly.</p><p>“The bathroom is down that hall, first door on the left, amor,” Luz tells her quietly as Camila watches, confused by what’s happening. Amity nods a little shakily and stands.</p><p>“Excuse me…” she hurries down the hall, mother and daughter watch her go.    </p><p>“I’m sorry, Mija, I didn’t mean to upset her.” Camila frowns, looking worried, and it is even more confused when Luz smiles brightly at her.</p><p>“No, Mami, no! You were perfect. You just overwhelmed her, ” Luz assures. “She’s been terrified all day that you might hate her,” Luz says quietly.</p><p>“What!? She’s perfectly lovely!” Camila frowns and Luz smiles a little sadly at her.</p><p>“I know she is… it’s just…,” Luz trails off, clenching her fists.  </p><p>While Amity is in the bathroom trying to pull herself together enough to go back out there and act normal, Luz explains Amity’s rather complicated and painful relationship with her own mother as well as their most recent confrontation. </p><p>“The poor girl, that’s terrible.” Camila holds a hand to her mouth, appalled by what her daughter tells her, as Luz knew her mother would be. “How could anyone treat their own daughter that way?” </p><p>Luz wishes she knew the answer to that, wishes she could fix all the things that cause Amity pain, like Odalia Blight, but if time and maturity had taught her anything, it was that some things are just terrible, and can’t be fixed, no matter how much you want to, or try. Amity’s relationship with her mother is just one of those things, unfortunately. Something that she had to learn to live with, and it makes Luz all the more grateful for the two mother’s she has, and determined to make sure Amity rarely feels the loss, though she knows she can never take it away completely.  Eda had always been good at making Amity feel like another member of their little flock of a family, and her faith that her mother would as well had been rewarded. </p><p>“I’m going to go check her,” Luz said, standing from the couch and walking down the hall to the closed bathroom door. She tapped on it quietly</p><p>“Hey, can I come in?” she asks quietly. The lock clicks and Luz slips inside.</p><p>Amity is standing with both hands on the sink, staring down at it and Luz can see the trembling in her frame. She stands behind her and wraps her arms around her shoulders.</p><p>“It’s okay, amor,” she whispers into her ear. “Slow, deep breaths,” she murmurs, feeling Amity’s quaking in her arms as she tries to follow the instruction. The last thing they need is Amity hyperventilating in the bathroom. </p><p>It takes a few minutes for Amity to relax, or at least as relaxed as she’s going to get, and goes limp in Luz’s arms.  </p><p>“I’m making a fool of myself…,” Amity whispers.</p><p>“No, you aren’t” Luz quickly assures. “You’re fine. I told you, Mami adores you, you’re great.” Luz carefully avoids the word perfect whenever she references Amity, the woman has no positive connotations for the word.</p><p>“Hiding in the bathroom is not ‘great’ Luz!” Amity growls, pressing her palms against her eyes. </p><p>“If you can get through my mother's extra spicy Chivo liniero, you can do this,” Luz says. “We’re going to talk about that stunt later, by the way,” Luz jokes, hoping to lighten Amity’s mood. It works, and a small smile pulls at her lips.</p><p>“You didn’t tell me it was going to be demon fire in a bowl…,” she snips back playfully.</p><p>“Lo siento, mi amor. I forgot all about it,” she mumbled. “But it was tasty demon fire, right?” she grinned, looking at Amity in the mirror. </p><p>“Up until I couldn’t taste anything…,” she admitted, making Luz chuckle and brush a stray lock of auburn hair away from her face.</p><p>“Are you ready to go back out there?” she asked after a moment.</p><p>Amity sighed quietly but nodded. Luz released her and stepped back, letting Amity straighten herself out.</p><p>“I’ll go back out,” she hooked a thumb over her shoulder and Amity nodded.</p><p>Luz walked back into the living room where her mother was waiting on the couch.</p><p>“Is she alright?” Camila frowned.</p><p>“She’s fine.” Luz nodded, plopping down on the couch. “I just remembered though, Mami, you should come to dinner at the owl house. We all get together almost every Sunday for dinner, you can meet everyone.”  </p><p>It was then that Amity cautiously stepped out of the hall and sat next to Luz, who took hold of one of her hands.</p><p>“My apologies, Ms. Noceda…,” Amity started, only for Camila to cut her off.</p><p>“Nothing to be sorry for, cariño.” Camila smiled and Amity pinked at the word. </p><p>“Amity, tell Mami she needs to come to dinner at the house and meet everyone.” Luz bounced excitedly.</p><p>“Umm… come prepared for a very… exuberant meal…,” she says finally and Luz snorts.</p><p>They leave soon after securing Camila’s agreement to come to dinner the coming Sunday.</p><p>“I think that went pretty well,” Luz starts as they walk through the portal and step back into the demon realm.</p><p>“It certainly could have gone worse…,” she admits, walking around the front of the house.</p><p>“I told you, you were worried for nothing.” Luz smiles at her as she quietly opens the door to the house so as not to wake Hooty.</p><p>“Maybe,'' Amity admits, starting for the stairs. “Though now we get to worry about Sunday,” she says. “I’m going to have to call Emira and make the twins promise to be on their best behavior.” </p><p>Luz chuckles as she follows her to their room. </p><p>“I’m sure they'll be fine.” Luz waved.</p><p>“It’s like you’ve never met my siblings…” Amity smirked, glancing at Luz over her shoulder. </p><p>The house is quiet and they figure the rest of the house’s residents have gone to bed already, so they make their way quietly to their room to change for bed.</p><p>Amity sighs tiredly as she flops back onto the bed.</p><p>“My mouth still hurts…,” she grumbled, making Luz snicker as she crawled into bed next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist.</p><p>“Chica blanca…,” is the mumbled reply. Amity frowns. She knows the words but doesn’t understand whatever reference Luz is making, but knows by the look on her face she’s making fun of her, she pokes her side sharply, which only makes Luz giggle more. </p><p>“Ugh, goodnight.” She spins a finger and the lights go out as she turns onto her side, pointedly facing away from Luz, but that doesn't dissuade her from following to spoon her, and Amity doesn’t protest.</p><p>“Good night, mi amor,” Luz mumbled into her neck.</p><p>It’s quiet for a few minutes before Luz’s voice again breaks the quiet.</p><p>“Amity…?”</p><p>“Hmm?” she doesn’t open her eyes. She wouldn’t be able to see her anyway, behind her in the dark. </p><p>“Are you happy?” </p><p>That does make her eyes open. She can’t distinguish anything from Luz’s voice. She rolls over to face her and from what little light is coming in the window from the moon she can see the shine of it bouncing off Luz’s eyes as she looks at her.</p><p>“What do you mean? Like, right now, in general…?” she questions. </p><p>She feels more than sees Luz’s shrug.</p><p>“I guess in general, yeah, are you happy?” she asks again and Amity stares back at her for a long time, trying to figure out what exactly Luz is asking her, she never asks such a question without purpose.</p><p>“Do you think I’m unhappy?” she asks, eyebrows knitting between her forehead as she tries to read Luz’s face, puzzle out what this sudden line of questioning is about.</p><p>“I don’t... think, you are, no,” Luz finally answers. “I just… want to make sure. Are you happy with everything? Our lives, getting married… me?” she finally says and Amity’s eyes shoot wide open.</p><p>‘What? Why would you ask that?” Amity frowns, reaching out in the dark for Luz’s hand. She finds it and laces their fingers together, she can feel the warm metal of Luz’s ring against her cool hand. </p><p>Her eyes have adjusted and she can see Luz’s frown.</p><p>“Seeing my old room today… how she never went in there, put all my photos away, it just got me thinking about how good I seem to be at hurting the people I love without meaning to and I… I dunno how to explain it, but you're happy, right?” The question resonates with a desperateness that makes Amity’s chest tighten painfully. </p><p>She pulls her hand out of Luz’s to reach up and cup her face in both hands.</p><p>“Listen to me, and listen carefully, Luz Noceda,” she says seriously. “I love you, and I’ve never been as happy as I am when I’m with you. Okay?” she asks quietly. </p><p>Luz reached up to press her hand over one of Amity’s on her cheek and turned her head just enough to press a kiss to her palm.</p><p>“Yeah,” she mumbled against her skin.   </p><p>“Good,” Amity mumbles and pulls her hands back to wrap around her, tugging her closer. “Now go to sleep, you dork,” she grumbled. Luz smiled and squeezed her tightly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well, that ended up being so much longer then I intended.</p><p>Still, one more part to go.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luz hummed to herself as she hefted a large pot onto the counter and started cutting up the array of strange colored vegetables sitting nearby.</p><p>Since her mother was coming to dinner tonight she had decided to take up the cooking. She'd gotten pretty used to the food on the Isles and didn't even blink when something was served to her with extra limbs, eyes, or even if it was still alive; usually. It depended… especially after something had tried to eat her back once, but her mother required a gentler introduction to demon realm cuisine.</p><p>She was still very much worried about telling her mother exactly about her familial relationship with Eda, or rather, how she would react, but Amity had told her she just needed to open that door and deal with what was on the other side, or she was going to end up hurting Eda and her mother.</p><p>She was right of course; Amity usually was.</p><p>"What are you making?" A voice hummed in her ear and suddenly Amity was standing behind her, hands on her hips and chin on her shoulder as she looked at what Luz was cooking.</p><p>"I got steak from the human world for everyone to try with a side of mashed paintatoes and… I don't know what these are, some kind of vegetable mom bought the other day!" She grinned and Amity giggled. </p><p>"Have you had them before?" Amity asks cocking a brow.</p><p>"Yes, <i>dere</i>. I just don't know what they are, but they're good!" She smiled.</p><p>"Just checking…," Amity hums, kissing her cheek before she goes about making some tea.</p><p>"Did you talk to Ed and Em?" she asks Amity as she moves around the kitchen.</p><p>"Yes, and they promised me to behave while your mother was here," she assured her.</p><p>"Good, good... I really just need to worry about Mom and Lily then…" </p><p>"Lilith shouldn't be a problem… depending on Eda of course…" Amity smirked.</p><p>"Right… I'm just going to have to hope for the best on that front…," she mumbled, picking up the bright colored vegetables and suddenly remembered something she thought of late last night just before she had fallen asleep and had told herself to remember to tell Amity.</p><p>"Oh, hey!" She looked at her over her shoulder.</p><p>"Hmm?" Amity hummed as she spooned tea leaves into her cup.</p><p>"What do you think about an outdoor wedding?" she asked, making Amity turn to look at her.</p><p>"Outdoor?"</p><p>"Yeah, I had an idea last night, so I thought I'd see what you thought about it." Luz shrugged as she started slicing things. Amity set the kettle to boil and walked over to hop onto the counter next to her.</p><p>"You want to have it outdoors?" She cocked her head.</p><p>"Yeah, but not just anywhere outdoors..." she trailed off and Amity smirked, rolling her eyes.</p><p>"I'll bite, where do you want to have the wedding, querida?" </p><p>Luz set down the knife to stand in front of Amity, hands on either side of her on the counter.</p><p>“I want you to guess.” she grinned playfully. </p><p>“I couldn’t even begin to guess with you,” Amity laughed.</p><p>“I’m sure you could make some guesses, but why don’t we make it more interesting?” Luz asked, a playful glint in her eye</p><p>Amity cocked a brow but smirked back.</p><p>“What did you have in mind?” she asked.</p><p>“How bout a little wager?”</p><p>“Alright, the stakes?”</p><p>“If you can figure out where I want to have the wedding by the time mami leaves tonight, I’ll let you decide on the wedding party’s clothes and pick out my clothes for that night,” she offered. That did interest Amity. She had full confidence in Luz’s ability to dress for the night without her input, but she also liked the idea of being able to dress her fiancée for the night herself, as well as what their friends would need to wear. </p><p>“And if I can’t figure it out?” She tilted her head. Luz leaned in to whisper with a grin.</p><p>“Costume themed wedding…” </p><p>Now that, more than her own reward, motivated Amity. </p><p>“We are not having a costume themed wedding.” She narrowed her eyes.</p><p>“Then you better figure it out, mi amor.” Luz dug a glyph out of one of her pouches and tapped it, a bright purple ring appeared in the air between them and she held her hand through it. “Deal?” </p><p>Amity hesitated a moment, she had no delusions that if she couldn’t figure it out that Luz absolutely would make their wedding costume themed.  </p><p>She liked a challenge though; especially one posed by Luz. She knew the woman better than anyone, and she was going to prove it.</p><p>She grabbed her hand in the ring.</p><p>“Deal” </p><p>“The everlasting oath is sealed,” Luz said and their hands glowed before the ring faded.  </p><p>“Somewhere outdoors hmm?” she hummed and Luz gave a nod. “I don't suppose you'll give me a hint...” </p><p>“Nope! You’re smart, you’ll figure it out… but if you don’t you’ll be marrying a werewolf on Halloween night.” Luz’s toothy grin threatened to split her face.</p><p>Oh hell no.</p><p>“I’m going to figure it out.” Amity’s eyes narrowed in determination. She was not going to marry Luz dressed as a werewolf, not if she could stop it.</p><p>Luz just giggled and leaned forward to peck her mouth.</p><p>"We'll see…," she sang before stepping back and going back to cutting up vegetables as the kettle began to whistle.</p><p>As if summoned by it, Lilith appeared in the kitchen doorway.</p><p>"Afternoon, you two," she greeted as she walked over to the cabinet to get her own cup.</p><p>"Lily, just who I wanted to see!" Luz turned to the older witch, who cocked a brow at that.</p><p>"I need you to do a huge favor for me." Luz wiped her hands on her pants and set them on Lilith's shoulders, looking very serious.</p><p>"What do you need?" Lilith blinked.</p><p>"I need you to please, please, PLEASE, not fight with mom tonight," she begged.</p><p>"Edalyn starts it." Lilith frowned and from her place over at the counter, Amity snorted to herself but chose to make no mention of how the older woman sounded like a petulant child, that wouldn't help Luz.</p><p>"I know, but you're so much more mature and level-headed than mom," Luz laid it on thick as she could, and luckily for her Amity was faced away from them so Lilith couldn't see the auburn-haired witch roll her eyes, but Luz knew she was. </p><p>"You're right, of course, I will not rise to her bait, Luz," Lilith agreed and Luz grinned.</p><p>"Thank you," she sighed in relief before letting go and turning her attention back to the food sitting on the cutting board.</p><p>It was a few hours later that Luz left the house and walked around out back to the portal to pick up her mother.</p><p>Being summer, even though it was nearly seven it was still bright and sunny out as she walked through the woods and down the street to her mother’s house. She needed to tell her mother about Eda before they got there because that would be an awkward conversation to have in front of other people, depending on how her mother reacted. </p><p>She knocked on the front door and her mother appeared a moment later.</p><p>“Hola, Mami, are you ready to go?” </p><p>“I think so, Mija…,” she said, stepping out of the house and locking the door. </p><p>As they walked back down the street to the woods Luz took a deep breath.</p><p>“So, there’s something I should tell you…,” she started, unsure.</p><p>“What is it?” Camila looks at her as they walk through the woods.</p><p>“I’ve told you about Eda, and how she took care of me the last six years, well… she really looks at me as being her kid and she really filled the void those years and has become a second mother to me too…,” she finally said, watching her mother carefully.</p><p>“That’s... understandable,” she says and Luz blinks at that, surprised.</p><p>“Really?” she asks.</p><p>“Of course, Mija. You were a girl, and I… couldn’t be there for you. I’m glad someone was taking good care of you.” she smiled and Luz deflated with relief. </p><p>“I’m glad, I just didn’t want you to feel like I replaced you. I didn’t even mean to start calling her mom at first, but it just became more natural over time." Camila's smile fell at that. "It made not having you around less painful to deal with… ah, here we are!" Luz grinned, hopping up the steps to the door that certainly looked out of place, standing in the entryway to the old rickety shack in the middle of the woods, especially with it's large, glowing, yellow eye. </p><p>She opened it and Camila stared at the bright light.</p><p>"¡Vamos, Mami!" Luz stepped through the doorway and vanished. Camila took a breath and stepped through.</p><p>Luz was waiting for her on the other side of the door.</p><p>She found herself standing on a cliffside overlooking the ocean behind a strange-looking house.</p><p>"Welcome to The Owl House, situated on the edge of The Boiling Isles, in the lovely and scenic Demon realm!" Luz grinned, holding her hand up to the house. Of course, at that moment a ginormous griffin chose to fly overhead with a loud squawk and snapped up half a flock of birds in its mouth before it flew off. Camila’s mouth fell open and her eyes widened.</p><p>“AhAhaH… don’t mind that!” Luz chuckled nervously. “Come on, Mami!” She led her around to the front of the house. </p><p>“Hoot, your back, Luz!” Hooty stretched out of the door. “And you have a guessst.” </p><p>“This is Hooty, he’s a house demon so he's uh…, the house,” Luz told her mother as the house demon inched closer. </p><p>“Oh, um, hello.” Camila smiled a little unsure.     </p><p>“Hi! Hoot!” Hooty wriggled happily, staring, unblinkingly, at Camila.</p><p>"He's the house?" Camila questioned her daughter quietly.</p><p>"Yeah… don't think too hard about it," Luz said. "Let us in, Hooty."</p><p>The demons sunk back into the door and opened, allowing them to step inside.</p><p>Camila looked around the living room and all the strange things hanging on the walls, but among them was a wall of photos featuring the owl house’s inhabitants. Luz and Amity along with Lilith, King, and Eda over the years. Many were of course, of all of them and then just Luz and Amity, but there were just as many of Eda and Luz, shoved together and grinning in various settings, including in front of a large, on fire building and grinning wickedly like two people who had probably just committed arson. Camila frowned, turning away from them only for her eyes to land on four large, framed wanted posters hanging over the couch. One for <i>‘Lilith: The Traitor’, ‘Amity: The Plague’, ‘Luz: The Human’</i> and one that looked much older, for <i>‘Eda: The Owl Lady’.</i></p><p>Camila didn’t know what currency was used in the Isles, but that was a lot of zeros at the bottom of each poster. Luz saw what she was looking at and chuckled nervously.</p><p>“Those are old, it’s from the old regime!” Luz quickly said. </p><p>“I think it’s a pretty flattering likeness of you.” They both turned as Amity walked out of the kitchen chuckling. “Hello, Ms. Noceda.” Amity smiled. </p><p>“Ay, no, no, Cariño, just Camila.” She smiled and hugged Amity tightly before pulling back. </p><p>“You only say that cause you got a cool nickname…,” Luz pouted, crossing her arms. Amity chuckled.</p><p>“Querida…” Amity rolled her eyes. </p><p>“I mean, come on! ‘The human’?” Luz held her hands up at the poster, temporarily forgetting that her mother was standing there watching her complain about the moniker on her <i>‘wanted poster’</i>. Until she was looking at her with narrowed eyes. “I mean… it’s… yeah, whatever…,” she huffed.</p><p>“Are you complaining about that again?” Lilith asked as she appeared from the kitchen. </p><p>“Says ‘The Traitor’,” Luz mumbled under her breath.</p><p>“Camila, this is Lilith Clawthorne,” Amity introduced.</p><p>“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Luz has talked about you highly and often.” She smiled as she shook the human’s hand.</p><p>“It’s lovely to meet you too.” Camila smiled as she looked over the tall, dark-haired woman with mismatched eyes and a streak of gray in her long hair. </p><p>“Shouldn’t you get Eda?” Amity turned to Luz.</p><p>“Oh, right!” Luz trotted over to the bottom of the stairs. “Hey, Mom!” she shouted, making the other three women flinch, though, Camila for very different reasons than Amity and Lilith. </p><p>“What!?” A disembodied voice called from upstairs.</p><p>“Come down, Mami is here!” </p><p>There was some thumping indicating the approaching woman. Camila’s hand clenched at her side as the thumping continued until at last, Eda appeared on the stairs, blinking her also, dual-colored eyes at the people in the living room.</p><p>Amity decided to make this a little less awkward for Luz and the two older women by stepping in before she could say anything.</p><p>“And this is Edalyn Clawthorne.” </p><p>“Eda, The Owl lady!” Eda exclaimed with a grin. “Nice to meetcha, Kid’s told us a lot,” she said as Camila looked over the gray-haired witch with a sharp gold tooth poking out of her grinning mouth. Hearing Luz call another woman ‘mom’ stung her in a way she didn’t expect, but she swallowed it in favor of the gratitude she did feel for this woman for taking care of her daughter the past six years. </p><p>“Thank you for taking care of Luz all this time.” she smiled, and it must have been convincing enough for Luz and Eda both. Because they both grinned in a scarily similar way that stabbed at Camilla, especially as Eda threw an arm around Luz and tugged her in close.</p><p>“Ah! Don’t mention it. It didn’t take long for the kid to grow on me… like a fungus.” Eda ruffled the girls hair affectionately, making Luz chuckle. </p><p>Camila smiled, though if anyone noticed how strained it was they said nothing. </p><p>“Why is everyone shouting!” A tiny voice roared and then King was stomping down the stairs, glaring at them as he came to stand in front of them. “I was napping!”</p><p>“Sorry, King. Mami, this is King, The king of demons. Isn’t he the cutest?” she grinned as the tiny demon glared.</p><p>“I am not cute!” He stomped.</p><p>“You’re an adorable little tyrant,” Eda chuckled, picking him up, making him squeal with rage. </p><p>“I gotta go check on dinner,” Luz said, glancing at Amity who smiled, letting her know she had this. Luz disappeared into the kitchen.</p><p>“Why don’t we sit while we wait for our other guests?” Lilith gestured to the couch. </p><p>“Luz told me you taught her magic?” Camila looked at Eda, hands in her lap as they sat.</p><p>“Oh, yeah, at first, but then the kid got pretty good at teaching herself, and then she was teaching us,” Eda snorted, nudging her sister, who nodded.</p><p>“Luz is a master of glyph magic, the ancient form of magic our ancestors used before we evolved to do it naturally. She’s taught us, but I doubt we’ll ever be as proficient as her,” Lilith explained. </p><p>“Kid works hard, and is pretty powerful,” Eda agreed. “She didn’t get that poster for nothing!” Eda grinned proudly, gesturing to Luz’s wanted poster hanging next to hers over the couch like it was a trophy Luz had won.</p><p>Camila pursed her lips. She was certainly glad that Luz seemed to be so talented at something, but she certainly could have done without the being a wanted criminal part.  </p><p>“Those became invalidated when the Emperor was defeated,” Amity told her. “Luz is considered a hero here on the Isles.” Amity smiled. </p><p>“As are you,” Lilith smirked and Amity flushed as Camila’s gaze turned to her.</p><p>“I’m really not…,” she started.</p><p>“Yes, she is!” Luz shouted from the kitchen. “Lily, tell Mami about how bad-ass she was in the battle at the knee!” </p><p>Eda snorted and Lilith grinned as Amity flushed. </p><p>“Amity was kind enough to tell me about Luz’s battles but never mentioned any of her own,” Camila said, looking interested and doing her best not to look at Eda.</p><p>“It was nothing much…” Amity tried but Eda laughed.</p><p>“You call taking out a whole squadron of the Emperor’s goons while carrying an injured Luz on your back nothing?” </p><p>Camila looked at her wide-eyed and she flushed darker. </p><p>“It really wasn’t a big deal…,” she tries to say, but then Luz is yelling from the kitchen again. </p><p>“She’s a pretty liar! Tell her Lily!” </p><p>Lilith chuckled and Amity scowled in the direction of Luz’s voice.</p><p>“Well, we had a rebel base on the knee, a cold region in the south of the Isles…,” The elder Clawthorne starts.</p><p>
  <i>Another explosion rocked the base, sending debris flying through the air. Smoke is billowing from somewhere and everyone is screaming as spells fly through the air and loyalists are pouring through one of the holes they managed to create in their walls, even as rebel witches shoot fire and lightning spells at them from the battlements while abominations and beasts, with their handlers, try to push them back.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Amity is flying just above the ground, desperately searching the sudden battlefield for a familiar figure in a dark blue cloak. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>The 19-year-old had been patrolling the perimeter of the walls when a sudden bright, fiery light had shot through the woods from three different angles, bombarding the barrier around the base until it had fallen and three final blasts had shot huge openings in their defenses. Loyalists had then rushed from the cover of the forest to lay siege to the base. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>She shot several spells down at them as they bottlenecked in the openings, catching them by surprise as she flew over, but their surprise didn’t last long as spells started to fly back at her. She managed to dodge the blazing projectiles flying at her through the air before she flew over the wall, out of their range, and into the relatively safer area inside the walls where their forces were already rushing to meet the encroaching enemy, but they were pouring in from multiple places and the number of witches stationed on the knee was hardly their largest force, they assumed this high up on the mountain, with all the natural fortifications as well as the magical ones, that this place would be the most protected and thus require the smallest force to protect, but it seemed the Emperor had sent and an entire legion to take out the base. He must have known they were here, but how?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>How had such a force managed to bypass all their detection spells in the woods?</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Amity scowled to herself as she dropped to the ground and raced across the grounds on foot, drawing circles and raising abominations in her wake to fight off any enemies nearby as she tore through the ones in her path with her staff.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>'Where are you?!' she thought desperately, gold eyes flickering everywhere. Luz and Lilith had been having a meeting with the base commander before bedlam had erupted, and knowing her girlfriend, she was now somewhere in the middle of it all.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Somewhere in front of her vines erupted from the ground, grabbing up several white-cloaked invaders and flung them with a sickening crack against one of the walls.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Willow!</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Amity rushed toward the plants, only just dodging a blast of fire as an emperors coven witch appeared at her side, too close to cast a spell Amity swung her staff, clobbering him the head with it, they stumbled and she followed up with two more mighty swings, something crunched and gave way under her blow as the witch crumpled do the ground in a heap, screaming in agony, but she didn’t have time for that. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>She turned and sprinted toward Willow, who she could now see, eyes glowing green as she flung and impaled as many white-cloaked invaders on her vines as possible, green cloak, flung off her shoulders. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Where’s Luz!?” she yelled over the din of fighting around them. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“She was in front of the keep with the commander and Lilith!” Willow shouts at her before she scowls and flings a sharp, thorn-tipped vine at Amity, who ducks and the vine smacks into two witches behind her, flinging them into another building and leaving a splatter of blood smeared across the ground. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Thanks,” Amity sighs, grip on her staff tightening, they’re everywhere.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Got your back!” Willow nods. “Go find Luz!” Amity nods and is running past her toward the keep where smoke is billowing up in a large cloud. There’s a blue glow and then cyan fire is blazing across the ground, engulfing a group of white cloaks in their flames, the screaming is cacophonous in her ears on top of the constant explosions and yelling in every direction. Lilith is standing back to back with a tall male witch in front of the keeps large wooden doors, glowing staff in one hand and glyph card in the other, lips pulled back in a snarl.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>She sees Amity and knows what she’s looking for.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“She was over there!” she jerks her head in the direction of a sudden explosion that sends dirt and chunks of stone flying through the air, making the ground tremble under their feet.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Damnit!” Amity runs and jumps on her staff mid-step, flying toward the cloud of dirt in the air. She flings out a gust of winds that clears away the cloud and sends a few witches rolling across the ground. Bits of the wall are laying everywhere in huge chunks of crumbling stone, and laying on the ground, partially obscured by one, she sees a tell-tale dark blue cloak.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Luz!” Amity jumps from the staff to kneel beside the human who is laying on the ground, staff in hand, and gritting her teeth. Blood is running down her face from somewhere in her hairline, but that is the least of their problems as fighting rages around them. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>A chunk of the wall is laying on her left leg. She must have been hit in the initial breakthrough, but the glowing of her staff and the glyph cards clenched in her other hand, as well as the white-cloaked bodies laying around her motionless, says that she’s been fighting from the ground since the battle started. An abomination rises from the ground and carefully lifts the block of stone off her leg and chunks it into a group of invaders.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Luz groans painfully as it is lifted away.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Amity carefully helps her sits her up but then Luz is pushing her away.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“No, you need to get out of here!” </i>
</p><p>
  <i>‘“What?!” Amity stared at her with wide eyes.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“There’s too many, you need to go!” Luz shoves her away. “My leg is broken, I’m not gonna make it out of here, but you can!” she glances over Amity’s shoulder and scowls, throwing up a fire glyph and her staff glows, concentrating the fire into a thick stream, that sets one of the two approaching white cloaks ablaze, her abomination quickly smothers the other, distracted one in its gelatinous body. “Go!” Luz yells at her and Amity scowls back.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I am not leaving without you!” she screams back and spells both their staffs away before she grabs both of Luz’s arms and pulls the struggling girl forward, hefting her onto her shoulder.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Amity, please!” Luz is screaming in her ear, partially in pain as her leg is jostled with the movement but mostly anger and fear as Amity stubbornly lifts them both, grunting under the exertion. Luz, for someone who looks so thin and light, is actually solid, lean, muscle; heavy.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“No!” She stands and her knees threaten to buckle but she wills them with all she has to stay strong and they do.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>The Emperor’s forces are pushing further into the compound and theirs are beginning to retreat, back toward the keep, where a secret underground tunnel leads out under the mountain, but as they retreat, they have left Amity and Luz stranded on one side, a platoon of white cloaks standing between them and the entrance to the keep.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Amity grits her teeth and draws a circle and two abominations rise from the ground, shielding them from the bursts of magic being fired at them and slowly makes her way forward toward the door to the keep where a group of rebels is keeping them at bay as everyone rushes through the door to escape, but she’s going to have to make it there first.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>It doesn’t take long for the group to notice her, she and Luz have become infamous, and two of the most wanted witches in all the Boiling Isles, her half green, half auburn hair is like a beacon in the daylight.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Amity… please,” Luz whimpers, but her struggling has ceased. She already knows that she can’t stop her. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>Amity ignores her, concentrating on the enemy witches rushing towards them and spins a circle, an abomination fist shoots from the ground and sends a few flying but the rest jump out of the way and begin to cast spells at them. A stray shot sends dirt and rock flying into the air and into Amity’s eyes. She hisses, clenching her eyes against the debris, and wills her other abomination forth and it shoots forward, swinging at the enemy and sends one flying before wrapping its gooey hands around another’s head, quickly suffocating them as they inhale abomination goo. She blinks away the dirt and turns back to them and rapidly draws circle after circle, sending blasts of fire, ice, and lightning into the group. They scatter, flinging back their own spells. One explodes at her feet and sends them rolling across the ground.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>There's a piercing high pitched ringing in Amity’s ears as she rolls across the ground before finally coming to a stop, everything else is muffled but as sound returns, she can clearly hear luz’s scream of pain as she rolled around on her broken leg. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>She quickly scrambles to her feet and is at her side, pulling her up, but Luz is pushing her away, tears welling up in her eyes as she sees the blood now running down the side of Amity’s face and the screaming pain in her left leg. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Amity, please, just go! You’re going to die trying to save us both!” she pleads. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Then I’ll die trying!” Amity snaps back, digging her fingers into Luz’s arms painfully and hauling her back over her shoulder against her protests. She struggles to lift herself from her knees. Exhaustion is nipping at her heels from all the magic she’s expended along with Luz’s dead weight on her shoulder, but she manages to force herself to her feet. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>She meant it, Amity would rather die here than leave Luz behind to do so for certain, or worse; leaving her was never an option. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>There are still four white cloaks standing between them and their escape. Amity pants, stumbling a little as she shakily draws three more spell circles and three abominations rise. She digs into one of her pockets and throws whatever glyphs she has to their backs before willing them forward and when they meet the four witches blocking their way there is an explosion of ice and vines that impale them with nightmare-inducing screams and squelching sounds as blood splatters across the ground in a grotesque mosaic that will haunt Amity’s dreams for years to come. Amity moves forward as quickly as Luz’s weight and her growing fatigue allows, making it past the group of rebels defending the entrance to the keep. They are the last to make it through before a large force of loyalists is rushing toward them.</i>
</p><p><i>Everyone else still fighting is now on their own as the rebels retreat inside and with a final joint spell, collapse the stone entryway behind them before they make their escape through the tunnels.</i>   </p><p>“We lost a number of good fighters that day, along with the knee…” Lilith frowns, she remembers every battle she fought in with striking clarity that still haunted her dreams at times. </p><p>Camila is looking wide-eyed at a bright red Amity, while Luz smiles at her adoringly, having returned from the kitchen halfway through the story, she had told Lilith and Eda many times since then.  </p><p>“That… is a story…,” Is all Camila can think to say in response. Amity strikes her as a serious young woman, but not some fierce fighter, yet the way everyone, especially Luz is looking at her tells her that it must be true. </p><p>“And when we got out, she shot a Slitherbeast and egged it into attacking the loyalists following us!” Luz unhelpfully added.</p><p>Before she can say more, there's a knock on the door, and Amity sighs in relief.</p><p>“Thank the Titan…,” she mumbled as Luz got up to answer it.</p><p>“Hey!” A chorus of voices sound and Luz grins, stepping aside.</p><p>“Hey guys, come on in!” </p><p>Gus, Willow, Viney, and the Blight twins pile into the house.</p><p>“Guys, come meet my Mami.” Luz grins, hopping over as her mother stands to meet the new group of young witches. “Camila Noceda,” Luz introduces her to the group. “This is Willow and Gus, mine and Amity’s friends.</p><p>“Nice to meet you!’ Willow smiles at her.</p><p>“You came from the human realm right?” Gus asks, the 19-year-old bounced excitedly as the prospect, being one of Luz’s closest friends, he was considered the foremost expert on humans in the Isles. Though Luz was a bit of an outlier. </p><p>“Later, Gus,” Luz chuckled.</p><p>“Oh, right, right!” He nodded. “Pleasure to meet you.” He smiled.</p><p>“And this is Viney.” she pointed to the older witch, still sporting her signature fishhook earring. </p><p>“Hey!” </p><p>“It’s so nice to finally meet you all.” Camila smiled at the three young adults.</p><p>“What about us?” Edric butted in with a grin and Amity rolled her eyes at him and that stupid mustache he was still sporting, in fact, he’d waxed it to curl up at the ends, he was doing this on purpose. She was going to kill him</p><p>“Camila, these are my older brother and sister, Edric and Emira Blight.” Amity held a hand out to the twins.</p><p>“Oh, it’s nice to meet you.” She shook both their hands.</p><p>“The pleasure is ours.” Edric smiled.</p><p>“Yeah, anyone who can raise someone that can put up with Mittens all this time must be a real stand-up.” Emira grinned and Amity glared daggers at her sister. </p><p>“Amity is a lovely girl,” Camila said.</p><p>“See?” Edric said with a shit-eating grin directed at his younger sister, who scowled.</p><p>“We were just telling Mami about the battle at the knee,” Luz tells them and the young witch’s grimace.</p><p>“I’m not mad I missed that one.” Gus frowned. He’d heard plenty after when they had all returned to their main encampment, bloodied and haggard. </p><p>Willow nods, thinking about it, and the twins frown. When the Blight family had sided with the emperor in the beginning they had stayed, working as an inside source of information rather than fighting publicly for the rebels. They still felt guilty whenever they heard the stories about Amity’s battles, even if their information had been invaluable in the first year of fighting. </p><p>The kitchen timer started chiming and Luz looked over her shoulder. </p><p>“Food’s done!’ She grinned.</p><p>‘Food!” King screeched and clamored out of Eda’s arms to the ground before taking off into the kitchen.</p><p>‘Well, let’s eat!” Eda grinned as they all followed. </p><p>Dinner is, as it always is at the owl house when they all get together on Sunday night, loud, raucous, and most importantly; fun.</p><p>People yell and talk wildly over each other and palismans run amuck across the counters, quickly forgetting they're supposed to be on their best behavior for their new human guest, or at least the two sets of siblings do. Ed and Em tease Amity mercilessly, they’ve long given up on embarrassing Luz, who always rolls with their jokes, no matter how… inappropriate, at least, for dinner with her mother. Eda and Lilith get into a quickly, thankfully, resolved good fight, that involved a spoonful of mashed paintatoes and a steak slapping the elder Clawtorne in the face before King snagged it off the floor and started gnawing on it. </p><p>Gus and Willow talk animatedly with Camila who is charmed by the two sweet young adult witches. She can see why they and Luz are such good friends, as well as Viney, who tells her some of the intricacies of running a beast farm. Her daughter's future in-laws are charming as they are sly troublemakers, it’s the liveliest meal she’d had since Luz lived at home, but she can’t help but glance occasionally at Luz, who’s sitting across from her with Amity on one side and Eda on the other. </p><p>The older witch ruffles Luz's hair and cackles at something, making the younger woman grin and laugh too, and she shouldn’t feel this way, she knows, but it stabs at her heart that Luz looks at and calls her ‘mom’, that she's the one who has been raising Luz the last six years. She’d been there for so many important moments in her life, while she herself was going through the motions of her daily life for the past six years without her baby, trying to live through that heartbreak, wondering just what happened to Luz. </p><p>Eda snorts and pokes Luz in the cheek, which she slaps away with a grin and says something Camila can’t hear but it makes the older witch laugh.</p><p>She looks away.</p><p>Half listening to the conversation Lilith is having with Willow about a plant she has that is dying for some inexplicable reason and asks the younger witch if she might be able to nurse it back to health. Willow agrees to look at it after dinner.</p><p>Camila focuses on these delightful friends her daughter has made here in the Isles, something she was never able to accomplish back in the human world.  </p><p>“I’m so glad you’ve made such good friends, Mija.” Camila smiled at her daughter, drawing her attention, and Luz grins.</p><p>“They’re the best!” Luz agrees and Gus waves a bashful hand and Willow and Viney grin.</p><p>“The little free-loader has a way of attracting people.” Eda agreed with a grin, and Camila’s smile tightened as she looked at the witch. Her chest makes another painful thud and she needs a minute. </p><p>“Mija, where’s the bathroom?”</p><p>“Oh, upstairs, first door on the right,” she says and Camila excuses herself. Once she’s gone Luz turns back to the table.  </p><p>“I want the record to show that Amity and I buy groceries, and do chores and cooking the same as you and Lilith.” </p><p>“Yeah, but you don’t pay rent,” Eda smirked.</p><p>“You’ve never asked for any!” she throws up her hands and Eda cackles. </p><p>“But, while we’re on the subject…,” Amity started, giving Luz a meaningful look from her place next to her.</p><p>“Oh, right.” she nodded, sitting up a little straighter, drawing everyone’s attention. “I guess now is a good time to tell you then that Amity and I have been talking and…,” she hesitated now that Eda was looking at her curiously. “Well, Amity and I are going to be married soon so… we just figured… we, uh...” she taps her fingers nervously on the table. Amity lays a hand on her leg under the table. </p><p>“Luz and I are moving out,” Amity finished for her struggling fiancée. </p><p>“What?!” Lilith and Eda shouted. King is staring wide-eyed at her, the steak hanging out of his mouth falls back onto his plate. The rest of the group is looking at them just as surprised. </p><p>“Not till after the wedding!” she quickly assured them. “But… yeah… the time’s been coming for a while, and since we’re getting married and starting the next part of our lives… that time is now,” Luz said, starting to sound more confident as she looks at Eda. They had discussed this at length and agreed it was time. She and Amity needed to do things on their own. </p><p>“Well, that’s…” Lilith is unsure what to say, but Eda does.</p><p>“Damn, Kid.” She frowns and the pain in her eyes is clear to everyone at the table. </p><p>“We won’t be going far.” Amity smiles at the sisters. </p><p>“Yeah! We couldn’t leave you two.” Luz grinned. </p><p>“They’d kill each other…” Viney leaned over to whisper to Emira, who laughed under her breath.   </p><p>“Are you moving to town?” Willow asks.</p><p>“Or to the council headquarters?” Gus guessed. </p><p>“Too far… and absolutely not!” Luz shook her hand at them, grimacing at the second suggestion as Amity smirked, rolling her eyes. “Do you see that over there?” she pointed. </p><p>They just happen to be sitting by the open windows and Luz is pointing at a section of the forest outside the house.</p><p>“The forest?” Willow blinks.</p><p>“You’re finally gonna live in the woods like the wild witch you are?” Edric asks with a laugh, delighted by the idea.</p><p>“What? No!” Luz frowns at her future brother-in-law. </p><p>“We’re going to build a house next door,” Amity explains, exasperated already by siblings tonight, but this is good for them, good enough anyway, so she lets it go. “Members of the construction coven kindly offered to build us a place at no cost, as thanks for things we did in the war… and while Luz and I don’t like to use that to get things, we figured, just this once, since a chunk of our current savings is going toward the wedding we’d take them up on the offer.” </p><p>“If you’re just going next door, why even bother going?” Eda frowns, brows furrowing between her eyes. </p><p>“We need our own space, where we can just be alone together, ” Luz tells her.   </p><p>“So you two just want to be loud when you…,” Emira starts with a smirk until she catches Amity’s glaring gaze that promises nothing good if she finishes that sentence and her mouth snaps shut. There’s rising tension in the air and now is not the time for her sibling’s patented form of shit.</p><p>“You have a bedroom!” Eda huffs.</p><p>“That can barely hold our stuff and us anymore! The two of us barely fit in the bed, and there’s no space to possibly put a bigger one,” Luz argued.     </p><p>“Luz, can’t you two…”</p><p>“It’s not up for debate!” Luz cuts off anything she’s about to say, much to everyone’s shock, most of all Eda’s. Luz takes a breath, straightening, and finds strength in Amity’s hand squeezing her leg, this hurts her too, but she and Amity agree, they need their own space to just be. “We love you both, but after the wedding, we're moving out,” she says with finality. The kitchen is oppressively quiet as everyone looks at each other, unsure what to do or say.</p><p>“Well, why wait, Why not just go now?!” Eda shouts as she stands from the table and stomps out of the room. </p><p>“Mom!” Luz calls but then the front door slams shut making everyone flinch. “Ugh…” Luz buried her face in her hands while Amity squeezed her leg comfortingly under the table and Willow reached over to pat her back. </p><p>“That was rough…” Viney grimaced. </p><p>“It could have gone better…,” Gus agrees.</p><p>“Coulda went worse though… right?” Edric asks, looking around, no one says anything. </p><p>Luz drug her hands down her face tiredly. </p><p>“Should I... go talk to her…?” she glanced around.  </p><p>“Just… give here some time…,” Lilith tells her gently, frowning. She also feels hurt at the impending loss of the young couple, but she understands where they’re coming from, they need their own space to be a married couple, one not shared by her, her sister, King, and Hooty. </p><p>They don’t notice the front door quietly opening and closing again. </p><p>Camila had only gone as far as the stairs when she’d overheard the conversation and stopped to listen and then saw Eda, scowling angrily to herself stomp out the front door. She hesitates for a long moment, considering, but feels pulled by the pain she saw on Eda’s face. One she is intimately familiar with. She follows quietly out the front door and looks around at the dark yard. </p><p>She doesn’t see the gray-haired witch.</p><p>“Hoot! If you’re looking for Eda she went thaaaat way!” Hooty stretched out of the door to point his face in the direction of the portal around the house. </p><p>“Gracias” Camila nods before walking around the side of the house. She spots the witch easily, sitting leaned against the side of the house, in front of the portal. </p><p>She hesitates a second before walking over quietly. </p><p>Eda glances up at the approaching steps and is surprised to see Camila standing there, but it’s not Luz or her sister, so she’s not particularly bothered, despite wanting to be alone. </p><p>“May I sit?” she asks quietly.</p><p>“Whatever floats your boat.” Eda shrugs, so Camila sits a few feet away, carefully folding her legs beneath her as she situates herself on the grass.</p><p>It’s grown dark and is quiet outside, away from the ruckus of all the young adults inside the house.</p><p>“Well, this sucks…,” Eda finally says, breaking the silence they’ve been sitting in for the last few minutes, drawing Camila’s eyes to her. “I didn’t expect that…,” she says slowly, frowning. “But I guess I should have…she’s not a kid anymore...”</p><p>‘No…,” Camila agrees and now it’s Eda’s turn to glance at the other woman sitting nearby.</p><p>“Ya know, I don’t really know how you must be feeling… but I know how I’d feel if Luz was suddenly gone from my life one day… I’d really miss the kid… well, ‘miss’ probably isn’t a strong enough word… I already miss her and she ain’t even moved out yet!” she threw up a hand. “So, I can’t imagine how you felt when she disappeared without a trace…,” Eda said, turning back to stare out at the dark ocean.</p><p>Camila’s fingers clench the fabric of her dress. </p><p>“Like there was a hole in my chest that couldn’t be filled…,” she says quietly after a moment. Eda grunts in acknowledgment. </p><p>“Sounds about right…,” she mumbles, which prompts Camila to speak again and she figures the only way to work through this is to air her grievances.</p><p>“I don’t know how I feel about you…,” she finally says and Eda turns to her, blinking. “You got the last six years of my baby’s life, I lost her and you got her… all the moments in her life that I didn’t get to be part of… but you took good care of her too when I couldn’t…” Camila clenched her fists as Eda watched her. </p><p>“I tried…” Eda finally says after a long moment of quiet, normally Eda couldn’t give a flying fig about most people’s feelings, but she thinks that she understands Camila, and Camila must understand her, at least in this, otherwise why the hell would she come out here? Like her, she’d kill or die for Luz, for her kid, the same kid as Camila would. “Tried not to get attached to the kid, but she’s damn good at worming her way into your heart…,” she huffs with a rueful grin and Camila can only agree with that. “Told her I could never replace you, and I didn’t wanna try, and I’m not and I didn’t,” she leaned her head back against the house. “But Luz… filled this emptiness in my life I didn’t even know I had. Made every day better just by being around, I love that kid, and man do I wish she wasn’t going… even if it's just next door…,” she sighed. </p><p>Camila thinks hard about that, and she can just tell that Eda means it, loves Luz as much as she does, and while it still stings some, it lessens the pain by miles. What Luz said is true, no one tried or did take her place, and while Eda got the last six years, she didn’t get the first fourteen, that's something that can’t ever be taken away from her, and the rest of her daughter’s life is still stretched out in front of them, both of them. </p><p>“I suppose... we’ll both have to learn to deal with it as she keeps growing up…,” Camila finally says and Eda hums. </p><p>“Damn kids and growing up…,” Eda grumbled, frowning, and despite her still unsure feelings about her, Camila can’t help but chuckle at that. That’s a sentiment she can agree with.<br/>
After a while, they both go back inside and everyone looks up.</p><p>“Mami? Where did you go?” Luz asks her mother as she walks back into the kitchen with Eda.</p><p>“I was talking to Eda,” she says simply. </p><p>“Did we miss dessert?” Eda sits back in her seat next to Luz.</p><p>“Um, no.” Amity shakes her head, uncertain about what has gone on.</p><p>“Good, I wanna enjoy every meal we have with you brats before you go,” Eda says.</p><p>“So, you’re… okay, with us moving out?” Luz asks cautiously and Eda sighs before smiling at her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.</p><p>“Yeah, Kid. As you said, you aren’t going far, we’ll see you all the time!” She grins and the whole kitchen relaxes. </p><p>“And perhaps the two of us can finally sleep through the night again without being… awoken,” Lilith smirked as Luz and Amity turned red and the twins burst into choking laughter. Gus and Willow tried to hide their laughter behind their hands, but Viney wasn’t so inclined and slapped her leg, bent over wheezing.</p><p>Camila couldn’t help but snort behind her hand at that, that was something she was glad to have missed over the last few years. </p><p>Dinner continued on at a much lighter tone before it was time for Luz to take Camila back.</p><p>“So, what did you think of everyone?” Luz asks as they walk down the street to her childhood home.</p><p>“They were all lovely, Mija.” Camila smiled at her daughter who visibly relaxed. “It’s easy to see why you want to stay. Them and Amity.”</p><p>“Yeah… I wish you could be closer too though,” Luz tells her and Camila smiles, she knows she means it too. </p><p>“Maybe I’ll take some time off work and come stay for a few days when you have time and you can show me around, Eda wanted to show me some shop in this ‘Bonesburrough’ as well she said I would be interested in.”</p><p>“Eda did?” Luz questions, blinking at that and Camilla nods as they stop on the front porch.</p><p>“I’m glad you had her all this time, Mija.” Camila finally tells her and Luz smiles.</p><p>“Yeah, me too. I never stopped missing you though.” Luz tells her and Camila nods as she wraps her daughter in a tight hug.</p><p>“I know, Luz. Te quiero, bebe.” </p><p>“yo también te quiero, Mami.” </p><p>Luz heads back to the demon world and finds Amity waiting for her, leaning against the side of the house.</p><p>“What are you doing out here?” she questions with a grin.</p><p>“Willow is helping Lilith with her plant and my brother and sister are still being annoying, but now Eda and Lilith are making fun of us with them,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes.</p><p>“That sounds about right.” Luz chuckled, walking over to give her a quick kiss. “Good thing you’re here though, we have a matter to settle.” Luz grins and Amity blinks.</p><p>“We do?” </p><p>Luz nods and crosses her arms, looking at Amity challengingly. </p><p>“So, mi amor… did you figure out where I wanted to have the wedding?” Luz asks with a sly grin and Amity’s insides fill with ice. She had completely forgotten about their wager!</p><p>“Fuck!” she suddenly shouts and Luz blinks at her before bursting out laughing, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as Amity scowls. “You forgot, didn’t you?!” Luz laughs, clutching her stomach.</p><p>Amity covers her face with her hands, cursing to herself. She had totally forgotten.</p><p>“You know what that means don’t you?” Luz chuckles, wiping at her tears. “You get to marry a werewolf on Halloween under a blue moon…,” she sings, hopping up and down excitedly. </p><p>Amity groaned loudly into her hands.</p><p>Luz’s grin softened into a smile. As much as she’d like to win this little wager, and absolutely will collect if she does, she still can’t stand the idea of making Amity suffer through it without at least giving her a chance. She takes both her hands and gently pulls them away from her face.</p><p>“Ya know, Amor... tonight did get kinda crazy… how bout this, I’ll give you one guess right now, to try and figure it out, and if you guess right, no costume wedding, but you forfeit your prize, sound good to you?” Luz cocks her head. </p><p>There’s no way for her to win now, so the best Amity can hope for is to avoid the costume disaster that is looking to be their looming nuptials and break even.</p><p>“Okay, yes.” she nods quickly, and Luz chuckles</p><p>“So, Amity Blight! Where in The Boiling Isles would I like to become your wife?” She grins, and despite the desperateness on her part in this situation, Amity’s heart flutters wildly in her chest at Luz’s words. She does her best to stomp it down, she can be head over heels in love with Luz when she’s out of danger of marrying a werewolf in front of their closest friends and family on Halloween night.  </p><p>“I…” she stalls brain quickly thinking back to all the places on the Isles they’ve been that are outside and would mean enough to Luz for her to want them to get married there. There are many, all for varying reasons but none that immediately stick her as being the perfect place.  </p><p>She then spots Willow and Gus leaving the house, a sad, dying plant held in Willow’s hands. It’s once bright pink petals are wilted and dry, and the first thing that pops into her mind comes out of her mouth.</p><p>“Th- the grom tree!?” she guesses and Luz’s eyes widen as she stares back at her for a few long seconds and Amity bites her lip. </p><p>“Damn, you’re good!” Luz finally breaks into a grin and Amity blinks.</p><p>“Really? You want to get married under the grom tree?” she asks, and now that she’s said it aloud, of course that’s where Luz would want to get married. </p><p>“Yeah!” She smiled. “This probably sounds super corny,” she chuckled, scratching her cheek with a finger. “but I just thought… that was the first place we danced together and then it was where we said ‘I love you’ the first time… so I guess it just seemed… poetic, in a way, that we make this promise to each other there, where things kinda started and where we’ll be starting the rest of our lives together and all…” She’s blushing. It definitely sounds overly corny now that she says it out loud. </p><p>She looks up at Amity and blinks. Her fiancée is staring at her with wide gold eyes and an expression of awe on her face that makes her cheeks darken further. </p><p>“So…,” before she can think of anything else to say Amity’s arms wrap around her neck and she kisses her; hard. </p><p>She’s breathless when Amity finally sees fit to let her breathe again and releases her lips. </p><p>“Titan, I love you.” Are the first words out of her mouth when she’s caught her breath.</p><p>“You… like the idea?” Luz asks, a grin starting to pull at her lips. </p><p>“I love that idea.” Amity nods, squeezing her.  </p><p>“Great, let’s go tell everyone!” </p><p>They go back inside to break the news to the rest of their family about where they'll be getting married in a little over four months from now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Here we are.</p><p>I am actually still taking suggestions for Wedding planning shenanigans and the like.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This has a second part that's coming.</p><p>Also, yes, since their 21 in the current plotline the humor may be a little more risque, but no, there will still be no explicit scenes in this series and I am not accepting criticism on the matter.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>